Why Iran's Bellicose Foreign Policy Is Unlikely to Change

With or without a deal, we were never going to be able to flip Iran from foe to friend. Here's why...

As the deadline for Congressional action against the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action with Iran has passed on September 17, the agreement is finally about to be implemented. Some supporters of the deal have argued that in the absence of a stalemate over Tehran's nuclear activities, the West can now engage Iran to stabilize the Middle East, most notably with regards to rolling back the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). John Kerry fueled these hopes when he said that Iranian foreign minister Zarif had told him that thanks to the deal he would be "empowered to work with and talk to you about regional issues." Federica Mogherini, the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, even voiced hope that time might be ripe for an entirely new "regional framework […] based on cooperation rather than confrontation."

This optimism, however, underestimates the anti-American agenda and the influence of Iran's self-declared guardians of the revolution....

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