Hillary Will Undo Kerry's Progress With Iran

Amir Handjani, Ariane Tabatabai

Politics, Americas

She doesn't trust, and she won't verify.

When Hillary Clinton’s top foreign-policy adviser, Jake Sullivan, recently outlined the candidate’s vision for America’s role in the Middle East, he proposed a twofold approach to the proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran: “Raising the costs on Iran for its destabilizing behavior and raising the confidence of our Sunni partners that the United States is going to be there and in so doing try and draw down some of their more dangerous hedging behavior.” Time and again Secretary Clinton has struck a distinctive muscular foreign policy vis-à-vis Iran. Her hawkish policies are part of a “broader strategy to confront Iran’s aggression across the region,” as she discussed during her speech to AIPAC. Far from projecting American strength and advancing American interests, this proposed policy is likely to undermine them.

Secretary Clinton, who served as President Obama’s secretary of state from 2009 to 2013, claims the mantle of the president’s foreign policy legacy, a centerpiece of which is the nuclear deal with Iran. Despite its narrow focus, the deal was not a one-off negotiation. It has opened the door for more extensive discussions on various American national security concerns, including Iraq, Syria and the fight against the ISIS.

In fact, Secretary of State John Kerry recently noted that Tehran has been “helpful” against the group. Secretary Kerry and Iran’s foreign minister, Javad Zarif, are now in regular contact. In January, Iran detained American sailors whose ships ventured into its territorial waters. After a flurry of phone calls between Secretary Kerry and Mr. Zarif, they were released unharmed within fifteen hours. This would have been unimaginable a few years ago.