On “Cavuto: Coast to Coast,” Rebeccah Heinrichs, a professor at The Institute of World Politics, discussed how the United States will react to Iran’s threats of violating limitations on its nuclear program.
The program began with a discussion of how countries like Germany, France, and Italy are concerned that the President of the United States might rush something to counteract the oil tanker attacks that have been said to have been executed by Iran. Ms. Heinrichs said that she does not think that the U.S. has any sufficient evidence to retaliate against Iran for the oil tanker attacks. Ms. Heinrichs went on to say that the Trump Administration is trying to get U.S. allies to understand what the Iranians are doing, which is creating more tensions and putting the U.S. in a bad position so that we either opt back into the Iran Deal or relieve some of the sanctions that are put on Iran.
Next, Prof. Heinrichs was asked to discuss what the U.S. should do because of Iran’s spiteful behavior. She responded that she does not believe that the U.S. should opt back into the Iran deal because the original Iran deal never removed the nuclear program from the Iranian regime. Also, she noted that some of the elements of the Iranian program expire under the Iran deal in the upcoming years of 2020 and 2023. Instead of going back into the Iran deal, Ms. Heinrichs believes the Trump administration should try to negotiate a better deal that will keep money out of the Iranian regime’s hand and leverage a deal that will actually dismantle the nuclear threat from Iran.
Lastly, Ms. Heinrichs was asked what it means when the U.S. says it is considering a full range of options against Iran. She responded that it could mean attacking the elements of the navy that carried out the attacks on the oil tankers or attacking elements of the Iranian missile program. She noted that she does not believe such action is in U.S. interests. Instead, the U.S. should try to pressure the Iranians to negotiate and get a better deal that is in the interest of the U.S.
At IWP, Prof. Heinrichs teaches a course on Nuclear Deterrence and Arms Control.