Iran
December 4, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Victor Davis Hanson surveys President Trump’s foreign policy, focusing on China, Iran, and North Korea. Hanson argues that Trump’s recalibration of our policy towards these three nations has succeeded in placing maximum pressure on each to alter its policies. He warns, however, that as the pressure mounts, so does the prospect of dangerous provocations. Trump’s policies towards China, Iran, and North Korea are improvements over President Obama’s. As Hanson observes,
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December 1, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
The New York Times reports on the protests against Iran’s repressive regime. It calls them the most intense since 1979. The 1979 protests, of course, led to the overthrow of the Shah. The mullahs were the target of strong protests in 2009. But the Times supplies evidence that the current wave is even more intense. The 2009 protests are believed to have resulted in 72 deaths over a period of
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November 27, 2019 — John Hinderaker
Iran has been roiled by demonstrations against the dramatic increase in the price of gasoline that was dictated by the government earlier this month. The demonstrations have been brutally suppressed, with somewhere between 100 and several hundred protesters killed by police. For several days, the mullahs pulled the plug on internet service to prevent videos of the protests and police brutality to be seen by the outside world. Totalitarian governments
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November 20, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
We have discussed the anti-Iran flavor of protests in Lebanon and Iraq. In fact, the ones in Iraq are strongly anti-Iran. Now, Iran itself is the site of large scale protests. The proximate cause is high fuel prices. The cause of the high prices is, at least in part, U.S. sanctions against Iran. Protests are said to have broken out in at least 100 cities and towns. Amnesty International says
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November 8, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
I have tried to provide some coverage of the mass anti-Iran protests in Iraq and the anti-Hezbollah protests in Lebanon. Taken together, they can plausibly be viewed as a “revolt against Iran.” Caroline Glick argues that the mass protests are the product of President Trump’s tough economic sanctions against Iran. She writes: The sanctions are one of the causes of the protests in both Lebanon and Iraq. Due to the
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November 6, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
I’ve tried to keep our readers apprised, or at least aware, of the large scale protests in Lebanon and Iraq. Both sets of protests are bad news for Iran. In Lebanon, the protests are directed, in part, against Hezbollah, Iran’s proxy. In Iraq, the major target appears to be Iran itself. Eliora Katz, writing for Tablet, calls the protests “the revolt against Iran”: Across the Middle East, from Baghdad to
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October 31, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
I wrote here about protests in Lebanon against a government dominated by Hezbollah, and therefore by Iran. Hezbollah’s leader initially expressed support for the protesters, pretending that the target was other players in Lebanon. When protesters refuted that myth, he changed his tune and warned of civil war. Since then, Hezbollah has violently attacked protesters. Iraq is experiencing a similar dynamic. Large-scale protests have broken out again. As in Lebanon,
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October 26, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Lebanon is the scene these days of mass protests. They began on October 17, triggered by a proposed new tax and fueled by an austerity budget that cuts public spending, pensions, and employee benefits. According to the Washington Post, the protests are the largest in nearly 15 years. They bring together Lebanese from all groups and sects. The target, say protesters, is the entire political class which is viewed as
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September 21, 2019 — Scott Johnson
If you want to understand the current state of play with Iran, there is nothing better to read than Lee Smith’s “Team Iran. This long Tablet column extricates us from the fog of stupidity that permeates the subject among Democrats and their mainstream media adjunct. I would only add this note. Lee credits Obama with decent motives for realigning our foreign policy consistent with Iranian interests. Michael Doran’s 2015 analysis
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September 20, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
It has become a standard talking point among leftists and Democrats to blame President Trump for Iran’s attack on Saudi Arabian oil facilities. This Washington Post column by David Ignatius provides a good example of the genre. In his opening sentence, Igantius claims that Trump “start[ed] the fight” with Iran. We shouldn’t be surprised by this line of argument. As Jeane Kirkpatrick observed decades ago, the left always blames America
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September 16, 2019 — Steven Hayward
Assuming Iran is indeed behind the attack on Saudi Arabia’s major oil refining facility, it represents a step-increase in Iranian-backed aggression in the region. The Wall Street Journal‘s Spencer Jakab says this attack is “the big one“: Saturday’s attack on a critical Saudi oil facility will almost certainly rock the world energy market in the short term, but it also carries disturbing long-term implications. Ever since the dual 1970s oil
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September 15, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Without wanting for even a minute to downplay the immense importance of what Brett Kavanaugh did or didn’t do at a party in 1983, I think by far the major news story right now is the drone attack on two major Saudi oil facilities. The two damaged installations process the vast majority of Saudi Arabia’s crude output. Thus, the attacks may significantly disrupt world oil supplies. Who is responsible for
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September 12, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
President Trump must be frustrated. That, at least, is the most innocent explanation I can think of for the way he behaves. Trump has plenty to be frustrated about. By now, if one believed candidate Trump, our border with Mexico should be secure, thanks to a big beautiful wall paid for by Mexico. It isn’t. By now, the trade war with China should be won. After all, Trump assured us
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September 5, 2019 — John Hinderaker
Former Defense Secretary James Mattis has a book coming out in which he is harshly critical of President Obama. Among other things, he recalls his dissent from Obama’s decision to pull troops out of Iraq prematurely, which had nearly-disastrous consequences. But this less well-known story about Iran is also noteworthy: Mattis says Washington didn’t even inform him when Iran committed an “act of war” on American soil. Mattis was CENTCOM
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September 3, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
I don’t mind that French president Emmanuel Macron met with Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif last month, although it did bother me that the meeting occurred while the G-7 summit was in progress and President Trump was still in France. But what really aggravates me is the warm reception Zarif received in Europe from various public figures. Mina Bai of the Gatestone Institute has the details. In Sweden: After
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September 1, 2019 — Scott Johnson
President Trump’s detachment of the United States from the wagon of the Iranian regime was a mighty deed. What can be said about the Obama administration’s funding of the regime and blessing of its nuclear program? Perhaps that it made the Munich Agreement look good by comparison. At least Neville Chamberlain didn’t agree to fund Hitler’s regime. The abject humiliation of the United States by the terms of the the
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August 26, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Yesterday, I wrote about what I called “Macron’s stunt” — the high-level meeting between French and Iranian officials that occurred while France was hosting the G-7 conference. I viewed the meeting as an affront to President Trump. Not because Trump doesn’t want France and Iran to talk, but because holding talks in the midst of the summit, and without Trump’s prior approval, seemed like grandstanding and an attempt to show
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