Weakness invites future attacks.
No, not the James Bond kind of sanctioning. But the kind where we prevent you from doing business with us.
The Biden administration on Thursday imposed sanctions on Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps officials accused of plotting assassinations abroad, including against former national security adviser John Bolton and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
What happens to the Iranian Jihadist figures plotting to murder former top U.S. government officials?
Tremble at the awesome might of Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) being unleashed here.
As a result of today’s action, all property and interests in property of the individuals and entities named above, and of any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, 50 percent or more by them, individually, or with other blocked persons, that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons, must be blocked and reported to OFAC. Unless authorized by a general or specific license issued by OFAC or otherwise exempt…
Unless.
Like the kind of general license that Biden has handed out wholesale to do business with the Taliban in Afghanistan in the name of providing foreign aid. Or the endless licenses handed out for doing business in Iran.
If you kill us, we may bar doing business with you unless you’re doing what you do in a business category that we’ve decided to authorize.
Also, we can take you off the list any time.
The power and integrity of OFAC sanctions derive not only from their ability to designate and add persons to the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN) List, but also from OFAC’s willingness to remove persons from the SDN List consistent with U.S. law. The ultimate goal of sanctions is not to punish, but to bring about a positive change in behavior.
Have you been plotting to murder U.S. government officials? We’re not sanctioning you to punish you, but to bring about a positive change in your behavior.
The moment you stop trying to kill U.S. government officials, we’ll do business with you again.
We’ve gone from taking out the terror boss of the IRGC to responding to IRGC terror plots in America with sanctions.
Biden’s message to Iran is that even when it tries to kill U.S. government officials, it has nothing to worry about.
And that will encourage future attacks.
Article posted with permission from Daniel Greenfield
