Trump’s ‘Max Pressure’ Policy on Iran Might Finally Work
But that shouldn’t include hasty air strikes on Tehran’s nuclear program.
Shiite Muslims in Pakistan hold placards to protest against the US killing of the top Iranian general Qasim Suleimani in January 2020.
Photographer: AAMIR QURESHI/AFPImagine you’re an average Iranian. Statistically, you’re very likely to be under 35, born long after the 1979 Islamic revolution and Iran-Iraq war that molded your elderly leaders. You’re not an Islamist, don’t attend Mosque, didn’t vote at the last election, don’t feel safe or economically secure; and there’s a 92% chance you think the country is headed, irredeemably, in the wrong direction.
That’s according to leaked results from the government’s own “Fourth Wave of the National Survey on Values and Attitudes of Iranians.” The poll of almost 16,000 people was conducted in November 2023. That was before Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei took on Israel, burning up at least $200 billion he might have spent on citizens but chose instead to give to Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, President Bashar Al-Assad’s regime in Syria and other so-called “Axis of Resistance” members. This “forward defense” policy has now collapsed, leaving the country vulnerable and in search of a new deterrent.
That’s more than enough reason to be unhappy. Yet things are now looking worse, and the nation’s leaders less competent, by the day. A cold snap has forced brownouts and official appeals to turn down the heating; this, from a government that can pay for and master the technology to enrich near weapons-grade uranium, but can’t seem to exploit the world’s second-largest natural gas reserves well enough to keep people warm in the winter.
Last week, the regime finally published its policy response to the story that had dominated news from the Middle East before the Gaza war: Nationwide protests against female modesty laws so brutal that in 2022, a young woman arrested for wearing her hijab incorrectly died in custody. Hundreds perished in the crackdown that followed. The proposed new law amounts to a plan to re-indoctrinate all Iranians with a religious fervor most don’t share, and to make penalties for failing the dress code still more severe. It was due to take effect Friday, but the backlash was so furious that on Monday President Massoud Pezeshkian withdrew the bill for reconsideration.