Secretary of State Anthony Blinken recently said Iran may be “one or two weeks” away from being able to produce the materials necessary for nuclear weapons.
Blinken told an audience at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado that “where we are now is not a good place,” because Iran has continued development of its nuclear program but has not produced a weapon yet. This would mark the closest the country has come to having that capability. He also said that the U.S. will continue trying to prevent Iran from ever having nuclear weapons.
“What we need to see,” Blinken said in a report, “ is that if Iran is serious about engaging, it is actually pulling back on the work that it’s been doing on his program.”
He added that the U.S. government was “maximizing pressure on Iran across the board.” Blinken also said we have imposed more than 600 sanctions on Iranian persons and entities.
One must put Blinken’s remarks in historical context. Iran is a rogue state, an Islamic theocracy that funds terrorist factions that wreak havoc in the Middle East. The terrorist factions target innocent Israeli citizens, although Israel’s conduct in the war against Hamas has been controversial.
Our country sealed a deal with Iran in Barack Obama’s Administration, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. Many supporters of the treaty admitted Iran’s status as an outlaw country, but thought the nature of the regime meant it didn’t need a nuclear weapon. Most arms control professionals agree that the deal kept Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. However, President Donald Trump removed our country from the JCPA. Then, the rogue state started enriching uranium.
For international law to work, there must be continuity in the laws for as long as possible. Otherwise, U.S. power isn’t trusted and will be weakened or ignored entirely.
We went from one policy in the Obama Administration to another in the Trump Administration. The switch occurred because of the polarization of our politics, as the Trump Administration didn’t want to take a sober look at the JCPOA and admit the Obama Administration might have done something right on the issue.
The political polarization in our country has gone from bad to worse since Obama left and Trump came in. A recent assassination attempt on Trump’s life is just one example of political violence in our country. If we’re so polarized as a country that each major political party wants to undo what the other one did in foreign affairs and political violence becomes the norm, there’s no way we can use our tremendous power as a force for international good and peace.
If we are to move forward in the realm of international law, we will have to strengthen our democratic republic, respect the various political opinions that exist in that republic, and engage in serious discussion on what’s good for the republic and what’s not, on both foreign and domestic policy.
In addition, we must defeat the right-wing populism represented by Trump. It offers citizens an authoritarian way forward, which does not respect anyone who opposes it and doesn’t engage in serious discussion on foreign or domestic issues. The way to fight these trends is for a significant group of the American people to stand up for our democratic institutions and save them from current threats. Once those threats are gone, perhaps we can return to a reasonable discussion of international relations and make progress in that realm.
Jason Sibert of St. Louis is the Lead Writer of the Peace Economy Project. Email jasonsibert@hotmail.com.
From The Progressive Populist, September 1, 2024
Blog | Current Issue | Back Issues | Essays | Links
About the Progressive Populist | How to Subscribe | How to Contact Us