Obama Legitimizes the Mullahs - Manda Zand Ervin - The Corner on National Review Online

Obama Legitimizes the Mullahs - Manda Zand Ervin - The Corner on National Review Online

President Obama could have taken advantage of the uprising in Iran by standing with the anti-government protesters. He could have used the moment to promote Iranian democracy and hinder Tehran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons. The United States could have led a multinational effort to impose tough sanctions on the regime, as it previously did with Communist-era Poland and apartheid-era South Africa.


Unfortunately, the U.S. showed no such leadership. Had we demonstrated solidarity with the Iranian people and their democratic demands, no European country (not even Russia) could have opposed sanctioning a regime whose brutality and unpopularity had been witnessed by the world for two long weeks. Iranians would have had an opportunity to create a democratic society, join the international community, and stop the current regime’s madness of developing nuclear weapons and supporting terrorism.

I recently asked a high-ranking U.S. official: Why did President Obama embrace a passive policy on Iran? Why did he choose to alienate the Iranian people by standing with their oppressors? He said: “We are letting the Europeans take the lead on Iran.” I responded: “Didn’t they have the lead for almost three years during the Bush administration?”

Three decades ago, President Carter left Iran to the Europeans. He would not even return the phone calls of William Sullivan, the U.S. ambassador in Tehran. Carter also ignored urgent policy recommendations delivered by his senior national-security officials. Needless to say, things did not turn out well.

Today, allowing Europe to “take the lead on Iran” will not result in a democratic constitution. At best, it will produce cosmetic changes in the Iranian government, which will remain ideologically Islamist and strongly anti-American.

President Obama promised to launch a new foreign policy, but his Iran strategy has largely been a continuation of the previous administration’s efforts. The only real difference is that Obama has legitimized the oppressive rule of the mullahs.