Michael Singh is the Managing Director and Lane-Swig Senior Fellow at The Washington Institute.
Articles & Testimony
With Tehran testing the limits of European patience, Washington has an opening to forge a united front, offer conditional leeway on some sanctions, and push the Iranians back to the negotiating table.
When the Trump administration ratcheted up its pressure campaign last May with the professed aim of driving Iran’s oil exports to zero, it didn’t take long for Tehran to respond with escalation of its own. In the months since, Iran has reportedly attacked pipelines, tankers, and one of the world’s largest oil processing facilities in Saudi Arabia, prompting a spike not just in oil prices but also in worries about a new war in the Middle East. It has also repeatedly breached the original terms of the 2015 nuclear accord. Tehran likely intended these moves to persuade the United States to reconsider its sanctions campaign, and to spur other JCPOA parties into urging Washington to relent. But it may have overstepped...
