Economist: Scrapping Iran Deal Could Embolden Hardliners

While US military forces have worked alongside Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC, to counter the Islamic State in Iraq, political moves out of Washington may unravel any conciliatory efforts between the two countries. As Donald Trump works to undo many of former US President Barack Obama’s foreign and domestic policies, he simultaneously emboldens Iranian hardliners, argues the Economist. In September, Trump threatened to list the IRGC as a terrorist group and to “‘decertify’ the nuclear deal that America and five other global powers signed with Iran in 2015” to lift certain economic sanctions in “exchange for limitations on its nuclear programme and close scrutiny of it, designed to prevent it from developing nuclear weapons.” While the outcome of decertification is complicated and multifaceted, involving lawmakers in US Congress, the decision itself might drive Iranian hardliners to dig their heels. Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani weathered criticism by the IRGC for trusting the United States and even negotiating a deal, but the warnings now "sound prophetic.” Iranian currency continues to fall but the nation’s exports have nearly doubled since the lifting of UN sanctions in 2016. Thus, the deal may be salvaged as long as Trump does not take more drastic steps. -YaleGlobal