OPINION:
When it comes to Iran, President Biden is getting dangerously close to snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. While the White House continues to push renewal of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, the Islamic Republic is quietly taking actions that would undermine the agreement by expanding its capability to enrich uranium at an underground Fuel Enrichment Plant, according to a report recently published by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and reviewed Monday by Reuters.
The plant, which Reuters reports is underground in Natanz, purportedly has seven more advanced centrifuge cascades that are now fully installed, but not yet enriched. This fact alarmed IAEA investigators because a recent Sept. 7 report said the clusters were not finished or at an early stage of installation, a signal that Iran’s nuclear engineers have since been on the move. The theocratic regime has also reportedly been adding centrifuges at another site in Fordow.
Despite Tehran’s apparent determination to go nuclear, the White House seems intent on repeating history from 2009, when Mr. Biden was vice president and President Barack Obama missed a historic opportunity to support the Green Revolution when tens of thousands filled the streets to protest what was widely considered a rigged election to install Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as president. Protests continued through 2010 and 2011 and arose again in 2018 and from 2019-2020 over corruption.
Thirteen years after the Green Movement took its first significant stand in 2009, Mr. Biden has a chance to redeem America’s mistake as thousands of protestors have returned in the wake of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini being beaten to death while in the custody of Iran’s morality police simply because she didn’t cover her hair.
Since Amini’s murder, strikes have arisen at more than 100 Iranian universities while violent protests have swept 170 cities throughout all 31 provinces across the country. Banks, mosques and police cars have been set aflame while police have faced gunfights in the Kurdish region. Hundreds have been killed, including 28 children, and an estimated thousands have been detained.
On Sept. 30, seminary students and teachers in the Iran’s holy city of Qom reportedly released a statement rejecting “rule by the jurisprudent” — the ideology of the ayatollahs’ regime, and on Oct. 3 the speaker of Iran’s parliament, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, raised the alarm that the demonstrations were designed to overthrow the Islamic Republic. Not surprisingly, the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, blamed Israel and America and Israel and partially shut down internet access to control information flow.
The heartless killing of Amini is emblematic of cruelty that women in Iran have suffered for 43 years since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, and the shadow of fear that all citizens have lived under. Just as we have seen in Cuba since the July 11 uprisings, unrest is stirring from Iran’s economic conditions, ignited by sanctions imposed by President Donald Trump, which also included rescinding Mr. Obama’s nuclear weapons deal.
Mr. Trump was right to revoke the deal because the regime cannot and should not be trusted, and Iran’s continued enrichment activities demonstrate that. It is in the interests of the United States of America to invest in Iran’s people — not the regime that oppresses them and continues to engage in deception with our nation’s leaders.
If Iran’s parliamentary speaker is correct that this wave of riots are aimed at toppling the regime, then this is America’s moment to step in and show the people of Iran we unequivocally support them. Mr. Biden should reinforce this fact by ceasing all negotiations with the regime and instead begin a dialogue with the people through any channels he can. When the people of an oppressed nation see the American president communicate with them instead of their oppressors, it gives them hope and courage.
It’s time for America and Mr. Biden to step up. The oppressed people of Iran cannot afford to miss another opportunity to escape the long tunnels of tyranny. It’s time for the people of Iran to finally walk freely amid the sunshine of democracy.
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