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NCRI Staff<\/p>\n
NCRI –\u00a0From Donald Trump\u2019s rhetoric on Iran it seems as if the US has decided on this stance in order to confront the Iranian Regime over strategic disagreements.<\/p>\n
The biggest point of contention is the role of Iran in the Middle East.<\/p>\n
As we have seen in recent months and years, the Iranian Regime has been meddling in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen to the detriment of the people of those countries and US interests in the Middle East. Through its interference, Iranian influence has affected regional discourse and crossed several red lines drawn by the US and its allies.<\/p>\n
In response, the US has four policy options that it could take: economic sanctions, developing counterbalancing regional frameworks, encouraging regime change from within, and direct military action.<\/p>\n
As always with the Trump administration, everything is still on the table and no choice made so far, so let\u2019s look at how those four options might play out.<\/p>\n
Sanctions<\/strong><\/p>\n This will drain the money that the Regime will use for the military, but likely to be met with strong opposition from US allies in Europe and Asia.<\/p>\n Counterbalancing Regional Frameworks<\/p>\n This is likely to be problematic as coherent and effective opposition to Iran in the Middle East is hard to come by and would probably pull the US deeper into the region.<\/p>\n