Tuesday, January 9, 2018

U.S. Policy Options to Support Iran's Protesters





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Source: Khamenei.ir

                                      
U.S. Policy Options to Support
Iran's Protesters

The images and videos showing Iranian citizens protesting conditions in their country have exposed the regime's increasing illegitimacy.

Tehran's attempt to create a veneer of acceptability has been thwarted by its own people-with populist chants against regional adventurism of 'Not Gaza, Not Lebanon, I give my life for Iran,' and the tearing down of posters of the supreme leader and Qods Force head Qassem Soleimani.

The U.S. should take three steps in the near-term to demonstrate support for the protestors and further pressure the Iranian regime. 1) Employ a concerted campaign exposing the corruption and repression associated with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his allies; 2) Utilize President Trump's new executive order implementing the Global Magnitsky Act; and 3) Designate the Qods Force as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO).

First, under the Iranian Leadership Asset Transparency Act -which the House passed in December-the Treasury Department would have to publicly disclose the assets and money-laundering activities of sanctioned Iranian officials and post their findings in Farsi, Azeri, Arabic, and English. A public education campaign could go a long way in exposing mismanagement at the highest level in Tehran.

Second, on December 21, 2017, President Trump issued an executive order "blocking property of persons involved in serious human rights abuse or corruption," using authority granted to him by the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, which was signed into law in 2016. Thirteen individuals were sanctioned under the order in a first tranche, including leaders from Gambia, Nicaragua, China, and Russia, but none from Iran. The measure gives the secretaries of state and treasury the authority to add more individuals as appropriate. Monitoring closely how the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the Basij volunteer force, and other elements of Iran's security juggernaut respond to the protests in the coming days will be important in holding Iran's leaders accountable.

Lastly, the administration should designate the Qods Force as an FTO. The Trump administration wisely applied more intensive terrorism sanctions to the IRGC, as a whole, under Executive Order 13224, as the Bush administration had done to the Qods Force in 2007. However, the secretary of state retains the discretion to label the Qods Force as an FTO under Section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act. In 2009, Kata'ib Hizballah was added as an FTO, and the Qods Force publicly supports them. It's well past time that the Qods Force be similarly designated. Such a step provides the U.S. additional leverage in influencing Iranian and European behavior as now international firms would be subject to additional criminal penalties, including providing material support to the Qods Force, and would lend assistance to the Iranian people's call for reining-in Iranian expansionism.



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