Why won’t Iran cut a deal? Its regime has taken an uncompromising line in renewed talks over its nuclear program. Although that has left the United States and its allies bewildered and frustrated, the regime has solid reasons for doing so.
As talks resume over reviving the 2015 global nuclear agreement with Iran, the United States needs to alter the dynamics of its relationship with Tehran if it hopes to secure a deal that will serve American interests.
China may well be America’s biggest global threat. Nevertheless, U.S. policymakers must remain prepared to confront a hostile leader in Moscow who, too, is committed to challenging America and the West whenever and however he can.
The Biden administration’s announcement that it will limit economic sanctions as a tool of foreign policy could prove significant, since it follows two decades in which policymakers of both parties dramatically increased the use of sanctions against governments, individuals, and entities that they considered bad actors.
The West faces a key test of its commitment to human rights as the Taliban cements its rigid rule in Kabul.