November 6, 2015 | Quote

Iran’s Latest Crackdowns Validate Concerns Raised By Skeptics Of Nuclear Deal

Iran’s recent crackdowns on businessmen with ties to the United States, arrests of journalists, and continued rhetorical attacks on the United States have validated concerns raised by critics of the nuclear deal that it would increase the power of the regime’s hardliners.

An article in the New York Times on Wednesday highlighting Iran’s hostile behavior towards the West began, “Anyone who hoped that Iran’s nuclear agreement with the United States and other powers portended a new era of openness with the West has been jolted with a series of increasingly rude awakenings over the past few weeks.”

But to some skeptics of the deal, the rejection of America’s overtures was not at all surprising.

The article specifically mentioned Iran’s arrests of an American citizen and a U.S. permanent resident by the intelligence unit of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The growing strength of the IRGC was predicted by a study released in May by Emanuele Ottolenghi and Saeed Ghasseminejad of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. They argued that the groups most likely to be strengthened by the nuclear deal were businesses controlled by Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the IRGC.

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Issues:

Iran