Negotiating with Iran is a fool’s errand

Negotiations with Iran it’s a silly assumption. The evil regime never keeps inconvenient promises. President Trump should stop trying to make a deal. weakens US credibility. More crucially, it leads to a major US strategic defeat. The evil regime has survived major attacks from the US and Israel, giving it a perverse prestige and allowing it to continue its malign agenda in the Middle East and elsewhere. In addition, he has won a major prize: de facto control of the Straits of Hormuz.

If there was no ceasefire, the war would have been over by now. Iranian threats to strike critical water desalination plants in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere would have been neutralized. Now Iran has more missiles and drones with which to attack its neighbors.

Will US behavior in this war give Xi Jinping second thoughts about pursuing his goal of being the world’s dominant power — not to mention making moves to undermine or even attack Taiwan? No. Will South Korea, Japan and Europe feel reassured that the US still has the steadfastness of purpose we demonstrated during the Cold War? No.

The US and Israel should immediately resume military operations that were prematurely suspended by the ceasefire. In addition to hitting the targets that remain on the original list, we should take out the oil facilities on Kharg Island. That would cut off Iran’s biggest source of revenue. Also, destroying the land routes that Tehran uses to procure supplies and transport oil would stifle the regime’s ability to sustain itself.

The reason the pro-establishment elements in the Iranian military, not to mention a citizenry that largely despises its tyrants, are not taking immediate action is that they fear the US will once again pull the rug out from under them and cut a deal that allows the government to stay in power and rebuild. This would mean more mass killings and arrests. But Iran’s relentless crackdown — including on the personnel and assets of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which keeps the regime in power — will allow adversaries to topple the regime.

But the thugs running Iran think they have the US on the run. Right now, we’re not even talking about permanently dismantling Iran’s missile and drone capabilities or ending Iran’s support for its proxies, primarily Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and dozens of terrorist cells and local militias. The mullahs believe that any enforcement of enriched uranium, not to mention other nefarious activities, can eventually be circumvented.

History is on their side: The victors of World War I thought the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles would make Germany permanently weak. A little more than a generation later, Germany came close to destroying Western civilization. With oil revenues and aid from China and other governments and businesses seeking a deal, Iran’s recovery will be much faster.

By having virtual control of the Strait of Hormuz, gradually gaining access to frozen funds, and avoiding any immediate missile and proxy deals, they give the criminals running Iran a sense of emerging strategically stronger.

Any deal with a government that never honors uncomfortable agreements will not be worth the paper it is written on.