A central White House argument against Senate legislation that would impose future sanctions on Iran should negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear program fail – that any bill doing so would drain bilateral good will necessary for diplomacy to succeed – may now face deepening skepticism after top Iranian government officials engaged in what were broadly considered to be anti-American and anti-Western provocations early this week. On Monday Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif generated a firestorm of controversy by laying a wreath at the grave of Imad Mughniyah, a Hezbollah arch-terrorist who was assassinated in 2008 after having spent literally decades killing Americans and others. The Obama administration scrambled to condemn Zarif’s pilgrimage.
The United States condemns the decision taken by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif Khonsari to place a wreath at the grave of Imad Mugniyah, a former leader of Lebanese Hezbollah responsible for heinous acts of terrorism that killed hundreds of innocent people, including Americans. The inhumane violence that Mugniyah perpetrated – and that Lebanese Hezbollah continues to perpetrate in the region with Iran’s financial and material support — has had profoundly destabilizing and deadly effects for Lebanon and the region.
The decision to commemorate an individual who has participated in such vicious acts, and whose organization continues to actively support terrorism worldwide, sends the wrong message and will only exacerbate tensions in the region.
On Tuesday Iranian President Hassan Rouhani took to Twitter to declare that the nuclear deal between Iran and the global P5+1 powers had seen the West surrendering to the “Iranian nation’s will.” Rouhani has since deleted the tweet. In contrast to the administration’s condemnation of Zarif, White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters that the Obama administration would mostly ignore Rouhani’s boasts.
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney downplayed Rouhani’s remarks when asked about them at Tuesday’s press briefing. He said these kinds of remarks are “expected” and geared toward their government’s “domestic audience.” “It doesn’t matter what they say. It matters what they do,” he said.
It is not clear that the White House’s position is politically or diplomatically sustainable. Politically, Iranian provocations threaten to heighten criticism that has the Obama administration walking on eggshells while the Iranians indulge in anti-American extremism. Diplomatically, writing off the incitement of foreign leaders as mere domestic maneuvering has historically had uneven success. Nearly identical rationalizations were made in reference to years of statements by former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, and the consensus is now that Arafat’s rhetoric – at a minimum – conditioned the Palestinian public toward intransigence. An analogous dynamic may take hold in Iran. Boasts of victory now may raise expectations to such an extent that Iranian leaders would be precluded from successfully selling concessions later. In any case, the administration may find it difficult to insist that pressure on Iran should be foreclosed in order to maintain good will.
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