Iran Deal is Certified as Trump Signals Increasing Pressure on Iran

The Trump’s administration has noted that the Iranian regime is violating the “spirit” of the Iran Nuclear Deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), even as it agreed to allow the JCPOA remain for the time being.

President Donald Trump whose criticism of the deal was a major policy position of the presidential campaign agreed only reluctantly to avoid scuttling the Iran deal after an internal Trump Administration debate over the issue. Administration insiders reportedly do not believe the deal will survive a third certification review, required under the Corker-Cardin Act to take place every three months.

The certification comes despite strong pressure from nonproliferation experts who argue that Iran in direct violation of the agreement, and that the agreement does not protect U.S. national interests.

As a signal of the Trump Administration’s growing frustration with Iran, the U.S. Treasury Department placed 18 new sanctions on a few Iranian individuals, entities, and networks for their support of ballistic missiles development and aiding the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The JCPOA prohibits the U.S. re-sanctioning Iranian nuclear efforts if Iran is viewed as in compliance with the deal, but it does not prohibit sanctions for humanitarian reasons, terrorism, or on the production of ballistic missiles.

In mid-June, the US Senate voted for new sanctions to be placed on Iran for testing its ballistic missiles and other activities unrelated to the Iran Nuclear Deal. Three days after the bill was passed by the Senate, Iran fired Missiles into the Eastern part of Syria targeting IS for its terrorist attack on Iran’s soil and support of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. The legislation must still pass through the House of Representatives before President Trump signs it into law.

Iran remains in defiance of the UN Resolution 2223 that forbids Iranian testing of ballistic missiles.

US Gulf allies have also favored tougher sanctions on Iran.

Since inauguration, the Trump administration has also been evaluating a proposal to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization. On July 17th, a senior official from the IRGC warned against identifying the group as a terrorist organization or placing sanctions on Iran.

In 2007, The US Treasury Department designated IRGC’s Quds Force for “for its support of terrorism.” On Jan 9, 2017, Senator Ted Cruz introduced a bill to designate IRGC as a foreign terrorist organization.

IRGC serves as the primary force protecting the Iranian regime and is accountable only to the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei. In addition to a mission of internal security and repression, the IRGC is also responsible for spreading the Iranian Islamic Revolution abroad. IRGC does its operation primarily through creating relationships with both Shia terrorist groups like Hezbollah and various Shia militias such as those currently engaged in Iraq and Syria, as well as by cooperating with Sunni terrorist groups including Hamas and even Al Qaeda.

Increasingly the IRGC also began to use its influence to extend power throughout Iran’s financial and economic affairs, creating a network of companies to both ensure the IRGC’s independent funding as well as to procure necessary items for Iran’s illicit weapons programs.

In a response Iranian officials called Trump’s administration’s policies, “arbitrary and conflicting.”

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard continues to cause chaos in the region by assisting Hezbollah, and other Shiite Militia forces, as well as Sunni terror groups like Hamas.

In May, Secretary of Defense, James Mattis, stated that Iran is “at the center of the dysfunction and remains a threat around the world,” specificly noting Iranian aggression in Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Iraq, and Bahrain. General Mattis has previously identified Iran as “the single biggest state sponsor of terrorism in the world.”

Even though the JCPOA agreement was certified for another three months period, evidence suggests that the Trump administration intends to continue to ramp up pressure on Iran. One effective way to do so would be to designate the IRGC.

While there will no doubt be an Iranian response to designating the IRGC as a terrorist organization, pressure on the primary security force of the regime is likely to be the most effective way to restrain Iran’s aggressive behavior.