Thread by @memarsadeghi

In @AlArabiya_Eng I note failures of JCPOA & big leverage US now has. Biden admin should lift sanctions on Iran only in exchange for verified improvements in freedom, via Helsinki Accords model. I also offer more policies to foster democratic transition. english.alarabiya.net/en/views/news/…

"Following the deal...the regime’s sponsorship of annihilation of the Syrian nation was put on overdrive; its global terror, imperial dominion, proxy wars, & killing of US soldiers expanded; & nothing of the financial windfall delivered to the mafia state reached the people."

"Maximum pressure...combined with an increasingly unified Israeli & Arab front, as well as an Iranian society mobilized against any prospect for government-led reform & instead for wholesale, democratic overthrow mean...[Biden] wields tremendous leverage on the Islamic Republic."

"Though the sanctions hurt average Iranians, they have been welcomed by Iran’s leading dissidents at great personal risk, and the Iranian people’s protests, strikes and other acts of civil disobedience have taken aim squarely at the regime, not the US or its sanctions policy."

"If there is to be lifting of sanctions, it should be only gradual, as calibrated rewards for improvements in human rights. Modeled on the experience of the Helsinki Accords between the West and the Soviet Bloc..."

"...opportunities for economic and political openings for the regime should be conditioned on clear, independently verified fulfillment of human rights demands."

"Future protests can result in democratic change or more massacres; much depends on the reaction from the US government. Biden admin must learn from former US Pres Obama’s betrayal of Iranians during the Green Movement & be ready to stand with the people in words and deeds."

"Trump admin provided rhetorical support to the democratic opposition, but practical, strategic planning is needed to take advantage of the openings that will invariably be afforded by new civic mobilization and to prevent violent repression."

"A democratic Iran will mean a Middle East region freed from the terror and corruption of an imperial Islamist state. Thousands of those who have courageously waged the struggle for this future are in Ayatollah Khamenei’s dungeon today. But countless more..."

"...with their welfare plummeting and no hope for life under the regime, continue to fight. They deserve America’s support."

"Just as Solidarity in Poland was aided by US because of its existential potential to bring down communism, Iranian worker unions and civic networks must be aided in their struggle for fundamental change away from Islamist backwardness and toward a free, peaceful Middle East."

"...the State Department’s grantmaking to groups and NGOs focused on helping Iranians should be realigned away from longer term, development-oriented programming to initiatives aimed at usurping opportunities for political change."

"To provide nuts & bolts assistance during peak civic mobilization, Biden team should provide what Trump admin promised but did not deliver: Nationwide emergency internet access when regime shuts down service...a lifeline to keep movement alive when it reaches its tipping point."

"VOA Persian must be rehabilitated...With barely a sliver of audience, it's a waste of taxdollars & discredited in eyes of the very Iranians it's meant to honor & amplify--the country’s courageous dissidents. Trump admin promised such change but @VOAIran...as feckless as ever."

"Another missed opportunity during maxpressure was immigration policy for Iranians. Trump admin pledged to boot out from the US regime-affiliated individuals – but never did. Biden admin should do so while lifting the Trump travel ban on ordinary Iranians who love America."

"The democracy movement is fully deserving of US support. In its commitment to unity & bipartisanship, Biden admin can put forth policy that melds best of Dem & Repub traditions to provide unambiguous backing to courageous women & men risking their lives for a free future."