What makes the nation suffer helps the regime thrive.
One of the U.S. government’s recurring mistakes about Iran has been to conflate the country’s national interests with regime interests. The two are in many ways opposites. What benefits the Iranian people—global economic reintegration, diplomatic recognition, investment, normalcy—threatens a regime that operates an extensive mafia and thrives in isolation. The carrots that America offers the nation are sticks to the men who rule it. And the sticks that America wields against the regime—isolation, conflict, and chaos—are carrots to men whose power depends on all three.
This morning, Trump offered a jarring illustration of this dynamic when he posted on social media: “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will.”
