President Donald Trump is finally proposing the Iran policy that our allies have spent decades avoiding: If you want the benefits of doing business with the United States, you cannot also help finance the regime in Tehran.
It really is that simple.
Trumps “Economic D-Day” is not merely another sanctions package filled with the names of Iranian officials who do not have American bank accounts and never planned to visit Disneyland. The important idea is to punish the foreign countries, banks, refiners, shipping companies and middlemen that keep Iran in business.
TRUMP THREATENS ‘UNPRECEDENTED’ ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES FOR ANY NATION AIDING IRAN
They must choose between Iran and America. They should no longer be allowed to choose both.
When I served as U.S. ambassador to the European Union, I watched European governments twist themselves into diplomatic, legal and moral contortions to avoid seriously sanctioning Iran. There was always a deal that took precedence over principle.
AMB. GORDON SONDLAND: EUROPE CANT CONDEMN IRAN, THEN COMPLAIN WHEN TRUMP FINALLY ACTS TO STOP IT
One country had an energy contract to protect. Another had companies pursuing Iranian business. Someone else wanted to preserve a diplomatic channel. Brussels was perpetually waiting for another negotiation that would supposedly moderate the regime if only we remained patient, constructive and commercially engaged.
Europe claimed that commerce created leverage. Iran got the commerce and Europe rarely exercised the leverage.
IRAN IS NOT A NORMAL NATION YOU CAN MAKE DEALS WITH; ITS A NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT
Tehran took the money, funded its proxies, expanded its missile program, brutalized its own population and continued advancing its nuclear capabilities. Then, whenever Iran created another crisis, the Europeans looked to Washington to solve it.
That has been the international bargain for far too long: Our allies make money, Iran makes trouble and America gets its hands dirty.
Trump is turning that arrangement on its head.
The United Arab Emirates decision to suspend trade and financial transactions with Iran is a major development. Dubai has been much more than another Iranian trading partner. It has served as a gateway to the world â providing access to re-exports, currency conversion, trade finance, shell companies and goods that sanctions were supposed to keep beyond Tehrans reach.
IRANS $800M OIL SMUGGLING SCHEME USES TANKERS POSING AS IRAQI SHIPS TO DODGE BLOCKADE
Closing that door will hurt. But the UAE cannot be a heroic exception. It must become the model.
Trump should look every allied leader in the eye and ask: Are you prepared to close your countrys Iranian commercial and financial channels, or do you intend to continue financing the threat you expect America to cont
