Letter to the Editor: Richard D. Wilkins

Biden, Israel may be at odds over Iran

Much has changed in the U.S., Israel, Iran triad in the half decade of the deeply flawed JCPOA [Joint Commission Plan of Action]. Iran’s cash bonanza greatly strengthened the regime and markedly facilitated its regional hegemonic designs. It has lavishly funded terrorism, proxy militias, Hezbollah, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. It was foolishly allowed to control compliance inspection visits and sites and permitted, as well, to develop long-range missiles, whose only useful purpose is nuclear bomb delivery. Continuing apace are surreptitious procurement of dual use technology, arms interchange with North Korea, and manufacture of advanced centrifuges, which, coupled with current disallowed excess cache of enriched uranium could dramatically reduce bomb breakout time. As its swiped nuclear file showed, it cannot be trusted to comply, either in letter in spirit, with any agreement.

Iran’s economy is in tatters, its populace restive, and its geopolitical outreach overextended. This is absolutely no time to throw a lifeline to a rogue regime facing existential challenges. President-elect Biden should wisely reconsider rejoining the JCPOA, renegotiating it, or providing any relaxation of the current sanction’s regime. The future of the Iranian people, Middle East regional peace, and, indeed, international security, more broadly, are all hanging precariously in the balance.

Richard D. Wilkins, Syracuse, N.Y.