“[The Biden administration is] trying to thread the needle between competing interests. Trying to please a broad array of interested parties is likely going to end up frustrating many of them.”
“[The Biden administration’s maximum pressure campaign] has not only failed to secure a better deal with Iran on its nuclear activities and problematic Iranian regional behavior, but actually created problems that did not previously exist.”
“Everything that I’ve heard is that this is a dumpster fire. That it’s ill-conceived, ill-executed and that it’s unlikely to produce anything of value.”
“In the case of the Trump administration, the gap between…relentless critical messaging on Iran’s human rights abuses and the general silence…of those same problems inside authoritarian Arab ally countries is really, really notable.”
“From a purely informational perspective, closing [the consulate in Iraq] would be detrimental to U.S. interests and maintaining contact with people in the community there.”