4/14/11 

Iran's nuclear program, its role in the region and its human rights abuses form core U.S. policy concerns - even as the Middle East uprisings change dramatically the environment in which they play out.  Most recently, the international community coalesced around serious action on human rights, appointing a special UN investigator to look into the regime's abuses, increasing international pressure on the regime. While it's not possible to declare winners and losers in recent events in the Middle East, Iran's abuses have highlighted the hypocrisy of the regime in the region. If handled correctly, this opening could present the U.S. with considerable opportunities. Bellicose rhetoric, however, only serves to embolden the hardliners in Iran, undermining these opportunities.

U.S. remains focused on Iran, while garnering international support for responding to Iran's human rights abuses. The State Department recently released its annual human rights report on Iran. According to the report, "The government severely limited citizens' right to peacefully change their government through free and fair elections, and it continued a campaign of postelection violence and intimidation. The government committed extrajudicial killings and executed persons for criminal convictions as juveniles and through unfair trials, sometimes in group executions. Security forces under the government's control committed acts of politically motivated violence and repression, including torture, beatings, and rape. The government administered severe officially sanctioned punishments, including amputation and flogging... Authorities held political prisoners and continued to crack down on women's rights activists, ethnic minority rights activists, student activists, and religious minorities. There was little judicial independence and few fair public trials. The government severely restricted the right to privacy and civil liberties including freedoms of speech and the press, assembly, association, and movement; it placed severe restrictions on freedom of religion." [Iran Human Rights report, 4/8/11]

The international community's strong response to Iran's human rights abuses has increased pressure on the regime. Robin Wright of USIP reported last month: "The U.N. decision to appoint an investigator to track Iran's human rights violations is the latest move by the international community to increase pressure on Tehran. The resolution follows a report by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in which he said he was ‘deeply troubled by reports of increased executions, amputations, arbitrary arrest and detention, unfair trials, and possible torture and ill-treatment of human rights activists, lawyers, journalists and opposition activists.' The move also reflects the growing U.N. and U.S. focus on human rights abuses, expanding world attention beyond the standoff over Iran's controversial nuclear program, which has shaped most U.N. actions since 2006. The resolution notes the Islamic Republic's refusal to cooperate on human rights issues and calls on Tehran to allow the investigator to have full and open access during visits." [Robin Wright, 3/27/11]

Iran's human rights abuses highlight regime hypocrisy. Speaking at the US-Islamic World Forum, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton noted, "Iran's leaders have consistently pursued policies of violence abroad and tyranny at home. In Tehran, security forces have beaten, detained, and in several recent cases killed peaceful protesters, even as Iran's president has made a show of denouncing the violence against civilians in Libya and other places." And as Barbara Slavin recently wrote for the Atlantic Council's Iran Task Force, "The upheaval in the Arab world has discredited both al-Qaeda and Iran and their model of violent revolution in favor of a synthesis of Gandhi meets Twitter and Facebook." [Hillary Clinton, 4/12/11. Barbara Slavin, 3/25/11]

Continued engagement on the part of the U.S. can lay the groundwork for regional cooperation. Writing for the Atlantic Council's Iran Task Force, Barbara Slavin concludes, "Plagued by domestic divisions, the current leadership may decide that it is too risky to jettison a three-decades-long policy of demonizing the United States. Iran rejected an outstretched U.S. hand in the first year of the Obama administration when the U.S. was trying to deal with Iran's nuclear ambitions. It may do so again, on regional issues. However, it remains in the interest of the United States to test the proposition that change is possible if Iran is presented with a proper mix of incentives and penalties - including the continuation of sanctions against its nuclear program - and if Iran is consulted on regional matters that affect the national security interests of both countries... Not every encounter between the United States and Iran must inevitably be a zero-sum game - even with Iran's current government. In the interest of Iran's neighbors in particular, it is important to try to lay the groundwork for regional cooperation. This could provide a basis for better relations in anticipation that the long enmity between the U.S. and Iran will eventually end. If Iran once again rejects any cooperation - this time on regional issues, including Afghanistan - it will further seal Tehran's isolation." [Barbara Slavin, 3/25/11]

Belligerent rhetoric only fuels Iran's hardliners. As a recent report by the Stimson Center and the United States Institute of Peace makes clear, "Allusions by US officials to the potential use of military options plays into the hands of the ultra hard-liners among Iran's elites, strengthening their arguments that the country will only be safe from American threats when it has nuclear weapons."  The report further points out that, "US military capabilities are well known. Reminding Iran of them only strengthens the arguments of those in Tehran who press for acquiring nuclear weapons." [Stimson-USIP report, 11/10]

What We're Reading

France and Britain have agreed to step up military pressure on the Libyan government after a meeting of world powers in Doha promised Libyan rebels cash and the means to defend themselves.

According to researchers, aftershocks rattling Japan after the nation's record quake may continue for at least six months.

Israel's attorney general announced his intention to indict the foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, on corruption charges.

Egypt's military rulers say they are reviewing cases of young protesters jailed in the aftermath of mass protests that toppled former President Hosni Mubarak.

Tunisian authorities announced they their intent to try former President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali on 18 different charges, including voluntary manslaughter and drug-trafficking.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has confirmed that he will not run for office again when his current term expires in 2013.

Pakistani officials said that CIA drone strikes had become a "core irritant" in the war against militants and continued to press the United States to halt this type of attack.

Cuba is facing its worst drought in half a century, with tens of thousands of families almost entirely reliant on water trucks for essential supplies.

Brazil, India, China and South Africa called for Russia to be granted membership in the World Trade Organization as soon as possible.

Police in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro have arrested a local lawmaker on suspicion of heading a paramilitary group linked to a series of murders.

Commentary of the Day

Capt. Mark Porter and Col. Mark Mykelby argue that the United States is fundamentally getting it wrong when it comes to setting its priorities, continuing to rely far too heavily on its military as the primary tool for how it engages the world.

Diana Shehata writes that how the elites and the young protesters that ousted Mubarak realign themselves now will determine whether post-Mubarak Egypt emerges as a true democracy.

Janet Brachman and Alex Levine discuss how al Qaeda is using online game theory in its recruitment efforts.