Why Bipartisan Western Hesitation Has Left a Terrorist Regime in Place for 47 Years

For too long, Tehran has operated with a single assumption: when the moment of maximum pressure arrives, the West will blink first. From the corridors of Washington to the capitals of Europe, policymakers have promised resolve, only to revert to diplomatic ambiguity, tactical concessions, or tactical retreat. It is high time to remove this terrorist regime — not because Iran is invincible, but because Western strategy has lacked consistent teeth.

In July 2015, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) was labeled one of the most consequential diplomatic agreements in decades. In theory, it was supposed to cut Iran’s enriched-uranium stockpile by 98 percent, slash the number of centrifuges, and subject Tehran’s nuclear program to rigorous monitoring by the International Atomic Energy Agency. In exchange, the West offered immediate relief from sanctions that had crippled the Islamic Republic’s economy. For a brief moment, many believed proliferation risks were meaningfully constrained.

Iran proved otherwise. Behind the façade of compliance it accelerated toward nuclear weapons — weapons intended not merely for regime........

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