President Donald Trump has made it clear to Iran that its tried and true strategy of saber-rattling won’t work anymore as it did with previous U.S. administrations, because this one is not cowered by threats from Tehran and has shown it will respond to provocations by decisively delivering consequences, Republican Rep. Jim Banks wrote in an op-ed appearing in Fox News on Wednesday.
The reason Trump’s actions are so effective, Banks asserts, is that he is not merely reacting to Iranian provocations but has a coherent strategy.
Trump’s sanctions on Iran have reduced the country’s revenue by at least $10 billion since last November and caused its economy to decrease nearly 10 percent in the last year, with an inflation rate of 40 percent.
His maximum pressure on the regime also included leaving former president Barack Obama’s nuclear deal instead of continuing on with the fiction that Iran was actually adhering to it, according to Banks.
Trump also has stood firm in keeping the pressure on Iran until it both stops funding terrorism and pursuing nuclear weapons.
Banks wrote that Trump uses to his advantage that the Iranian ability to inflict significant harm on Americans is quite limited, because Tehran knows better than to push the U.S. towards full escalation, since its military is no match for the American one.
Banks insisted that the Democrats should let Trump continue with his winning strategy, because the Iranians won’t pick a fight with him.
However, he said what Tehran “might do is wait for the withering crop of Democratic candidates and lobby Trump’s November opponent for some relief.”
This is because, Banks asserts, their only strategy is to rejoin the failed nuclear deal, which would enable Iran to return to its saber rattling that brought it such rich rewards.
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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