Overview

Iran's national security policy is the product of many overlapping and sometimes competing factors such as the ideology of Iran's Islamic revolution; perception of threats to the regime and to the country; long-standing Iranian national interests; and the interaction of the Iranian regime's factions and constituencies. Iran's leadership Seeks to deter or thwart U.S. or other efforts to invade or intimidate Iran or to bring about a change of regime. Has sought to take advantage of opportunities of regional conflicts to overturn a power structure in the Middle East that Iran's leaders assert favors the United States, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and other Sunni Muslim Arab regimes. Seeks to enhance its international prestige and restore a sense of greatness reminiscent of ancient Persian empires. Characterizes its support for Shiite and other Islamist movements as helping the region's oppressed and asserts that Saudi Arabia, in particular, is instigating sectarian tensions and trying to exclude Iran from regional affairs. Has sought to use the sanctions relief provided by the July 2015 multilateral nuclear agreement (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, JCPOA) to emerge as a regional energy and trade hub and to negotiate future weapons buys. U.S. officials assert that sanctions easing has provided Iran with additional financial resources to further its regional interventions. Sometimes disagrees on tactics and strategies. Supreme Leader Ali Khamene'i and key hardline institutions, such as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), oppose any compromises of Iran's national security core goals, but support the reintegration into regional and international diplomacy that is advocated by Iran's elected president, Hassan Rouhani. Of significant concern to successive U.S. Administrations is Iran's provision of material support to its allied governments and armed factions such as the Asad regime in Syria, Lebanese Hezbollah, Houthi rebels in Yemen, Iraqi Shiite militias, and Bahraini militant groups. Several of Iran's allies have conducted acts of international terrorism, and each annual State Department report on international terrorism since the early 1990s has described Iran as the leading or most active state sponsor of terrorism. Israeli leaders identify Iran's significant presence in Syria as a growing-and unacceptable-threat to Israel's security. The Trump Administration has cited Iran's regional malign activities and repeated ballistic missile tests to assert that Iran's provocative actions threaten the United States, [and] the [Middle East] region, and that the JCPOA has failed to address Iran's objectionable behavior beyond its nuclear program. It was partly on these grounds that President Trump withdrew the United States from the JCPOA on May 8, 2018, and announced that all U.S. sanctions would be reimposed. Although the Administration has articulated an overall strategy for Iran that includes rolling back its regional influence, neither the President nor Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has announced specific new steps or committed additional U.S. resources to accomplish that objective.

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