Iran Hostage Survivor: The Next U.S. President Must Be Hard-Line on Iran (op-ed)

UANI Advisory Board Member Barry Rosen: "Next week tens of millions of Americans will head to the polls to vote in the 2016 election, celebrating the time-honored tradition of our nation’s electoral process. This year also marks the 37th anniversary for those Americans who were held hostage in Tehran for 444 days during the 1979 Iranian Hostage Crisis. In this unusual presidential campaign cycle, we have seen a lack of substantive discussion about Iran and foreign policy from the candidates. This oversight comes at the most critical time in decades, with the nuclear deal well underway despite continued hostile behavior from the Iranian regime. It is imperative that the Presidential candidates and our policymakers in Congress understand that the Iranian regime that held my colleagues and me hostage has not reformed its ways. Nearly four decades after we were held against our will, subjected to torture and abuse, denied contact with our families with no idea if or when we would ever come home, my fellow survivors and I are dismayed to see the same actions being taken against fellow Americans in Iran today. There have been a number of dual nationals held on unsubstantiated charges—just like I was—sentenced to years in Iranian prisons without recourse... The next President must acknowledge the realities of inner turmoil in Iran, and be prepared to take a hard line against Khamenei and his regime as they push the envelope. Regardless of who wins the Iranian elections in March, we already know the regime holds the power and has no intention of working diplomatically with the West. The fanciful notion that the nuclear deal would bring about better relations between our two countries has been dispelled; a new administration will have the chance to cast a spotlight on Iran for the bad global actor it is."