It is being reported that the new US policy on Iran will address several of the most worrying threats posed by the Regime, including their nuclear programme, their destruction of the Middle East and their personal terror squad, the Revolutionary Guards.
Donald Trump approved this plan, which takes an aggressive approach to countering Iran, just before the opening of the UN General Assembly, last month.
Eli Lake wrote on Bloomberg: “It will include a new emphasis on countering Iranian networks inside Latin America; Iran’s development of ballistic missiles; Iranian human rights violations against its own citizens; and support for terrorist groups and proxies in the Middle East.”
Nuclear Deal
At a press conference on Wednesday, October 4, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told reporters that he would be presenting many options to Trump regarding the mid-October certification deadline for the nuclear agreement.
The US also plans to use the leverage of Trump’s threats against the nuclear deal (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) to encourage US allies who have also signed up to the pact to address the deal’s flaws.
Terrorist Designation
One of the key components of this deal would be the Iranian Regime’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization; something which Congress mandated over the summer but allowed Trump to put on the back burner until the new Iran policy was certified.
As the IRGC control a large portion of the Iranian economy (it is hard to know exactly how much because of the secrecy with which they operate), it would make it hard for foreign companies to invest in Iran. This would bring the economy to a grinding halt and bring the Iranian Regime as a whole to its knees.
Mark Dubowitz, the executive director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said: “It’s important because it means if you are doing business with Iran in key sectors of its economy, you run a significant risk you are doing business with a terrorist organization.”
This is part of the multi-level push back against Iran’s regional aggression.
Dubowitz continued: “I’m looking for measures that will drain the Guard Corps’s resources and have an economic impact on their funding of aggression abroad and patronage networks at home.”
Shipping Lanes
There are also reportedly new policies to deal with Iran regime’s threats to shipping lanes in the Persian Gulf, where the IRGC and even the Iranian Navy have harassed US naval vessels on numerous occasions just in 2017.
Terror Proxies
Another policy would increase intelligence operations against the IRGC and Iranian proxies like Hezbollah. Reportedly CIA Director Mike Pompeo has already approved new powers for US intelligence officers to target Iranian agents abroad.
Lake wrote: “[With this policy] it’s likely the Iranians themselves will accuse Trump of violating the nuclear deal forged by his predecessor, and threaten to pull out. Unlike Obama, Trump would probably consider that a favour.”
Source » ncr-iran