Iran To Hit ‘Jackpot’ With Sanctions Relief, GOP Lawmaker Claims

While a key Republican on foreign policy says Iran about to hit the “jackpot” of sanctions relief, a former top Obama administration counterterrorism official argues that Iran can be trusted to not use money for expanding its military proxy and terrorist-support operations in the Middle East, asserting that Tehran makes “rational calculations about advancing its interests.”

“The hypothesis that Tehran will use large sums derived from sanctions relief to support terror and subversion appears flawed,” said former State Department Counterterrorism Coordinator Daniel Benjamin on Wednesday — pushing back against Republican lawmakers, who claim there is no question Iran will use the money to ramp up pro-Shiite Islamic terrorism activities.

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Mr. Royce made the assertion at the start of a committee hearing Wednesday to examine the activities of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Mr. Benjamin and other regional experts, including Scott Modell of the Washington consulting firm the Rapidan Group, and Ali Alfoneh of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, testified at the hearing.

Mr. Modell and Mr. Alfoneh appeared to agree with Mr. Royce.

“Iran’s regional goals remain inimical to U.S. national interests and the security of U.S. allies,” according to Mr. Alfoneh, who said the nuclear deal, the emergence of seemingly moderate Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and the rise of the Islamic State — a Sunni Muslim extremist group and potentially common enemy of the U.S. and Iran — have created false hope in the West that a new strategic alliance may be afoot between Washington and Tehran.

The problem, he said, is that Mr. Rouhani and Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif “command little influence over the Islamic Republic’s regional policies.”

“The IRGC owns this portfolio, and beyond a fleeting tactical convergence of interests, the Revolutionary Guards and Washington do not have aligning strategic goals,” Mr. Alfoneh said in prepared testimony. “Washington wants to resolve conflicts in the Middle East; the IRGC benefits most by seeing these conflicts continue.”

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