The chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, Rep. Michael McCaul (R., TX), is trying to get the White House to pay attention to what Iran is doing around the Middle East. Earlier in the week, McCaul wrote a letter to Obama arguing that the clerical regime “has demonstrated hostility towards the United States and our allies through a series of increasingly provocative actions.”
The letter continues:
Such provocations are further proof that the Iranian regime does not negotiate in good faith and will not moderate its behavior as a result of the terms agreed upon in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.(JCPOA) nuclear agreement. Given the stakes involved, I urge your Administration to respond with concrete action in order to send a strong message to the Iranian regime that its egregious actions will have consequences.
As you are aware, Iran tested a medium-range ballistic missile inherently capable of delivering a nuclear warhead on October 10, 20 IS, in violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1929 and the spirit of the JCPOA. Two days later, it convicted American journalist Jason Rezaian on the basis of frivolous charges after unlawfully detaining him for nearly 450 days. Most recently, Iran has deployed additional military personnel from its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to Syria to further support the brutal Assad regime's slaughter. These actions followed repeated threats issued against our key ally in the Middle East, Israel, including from Iran's leader who vowed Israel would not exist in 25 years and that he would support anyone willing to attack the Jewish state.
McCaul asks that Obama:
follow through on [his] promise and disabuse Iran of the notion that it will get a free pass to sow terror and instability. Your administration can start to convey American resolve by working with Congress to evaluate the current status of the IRGC as it relates to the list of U.S. foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs). As you know, the IRGC is directly responsible for exporting terrorism abroad through the use of its elite Quds Force, which has planned, funded, and helped carry out multiple terrorist attacks on Americans and our allies. However, despite this fact, your Administration has refrained from classifying the IRGC for what it is - an FTO.
The reason that the White House is pussy-footing around the regime in Tehran of course is because the supreme leader Ali Khamenei has already threatened to crash the nuclear deal should Obama try to get tough. As McCaul writes, “Khamenei recently issued a direct challenge to your position by declaring that the imposition of any type of sanctions, including terrorism related, would be considered a violation of the JCPOA.”
Given that the administration’s entire Middle East policy, and much of its foreign policy in general has been subordinated to the Iran deal, it is unlikely Obama will do anything that might jeopardize what the White House calls his key foreign policy initiative. McCaul surely know this. What the committee chair seems to be doing is laying out the case for what happens after Obama. Whether the next administration is Democrat or Republican, it’s almost certain they’ll go back and look more closely at the JCPOA—at which time they’ll shed more light on what this White House has been trying to obscure. It would be hard to come to any agreement with a regime as untrustworthy and destructive as the one in Tehran. To strike a nuclear deal with a ruling clique like Iran’s may come at great cost to U.S. interests and allies—as well as the American homeland itself.