October 23, 2019 | The Hill
Tehran’s tyrants have been provoked
October 23, 2019 | The Hill
Tehran’s tyrants have been provoked
Excerpt
“So in war, the way is to avoid what is strong and to strike at what is weak,” notes the famed Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu. President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw troops from northern Syria unfortunately clarifies for our adversaries that which is weak: American resolve in the Middle East.
Amid news of Turkey, home to the second biggest army in NATO, attacking Syria, and the U.S. yet again abandoning the Kurds, it’s easy to forget that the Middle East has many hotspots simultaneously competing for American attention. But no matter the crisis du jour, it cannot be forgotten that Washington remains in the throes of a “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran, where resolve and perceptions of resolve matter greatly.
Behnam Ben Taleblu is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (@FDD), where he focuses on Iranian political and security issues. He frequently briefs Washington audiences on a host of Iran-related issues and has testified before the U.S. Congress and Canadian Parliament.