The Hill:

A.J. Caschetta is a Ginsburg-Ingerman fellow at the Middle East Forum and a principal lecturer at the Rochester Institute of Technology.

At a time when Iran’s oppressive totalitarian regime is coming under increasing pressure from within and its grip on power is being tested daily, Democrats are rushing in with sanctions relief plans that would shore up its control. Ignorance, naiveté and a warped sense of priorities explains much of their recent activity.

Since last fall, protests in Iran have become bold. Rather than “Death to America!,” the chants in Tehran increasingly are “Death to the Dictator!” and “We don’t want the Ayatollahs!” If Ali Khamenei loses control because of his regime’s inept response to Iran’s COVID-19 deaths, it might be the only good thing to come out of the pandemic. That is, unless the Democrats have their way.

On April 9, Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) wrote to President Trump, urging him not to block Iran’s request for a $5 billion humanitarian aid loan from the International Monetary Fund. On March 26, 11 senators wrote to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin requesting that the Trump administration suspend sanctions on Iran.

In their letter, Sens. Christopher Murphy (D-Conn.), Tom Carper (D-Del.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md. ), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Tom Udall (D-N.M.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), and Jeffrey Merkley (D-Ore.) argue that “U.S. sanctions are hindering the free flow of desperately needed medical and humanitarian supplies” not only to Iran but also Venezuela. They argue that sanctions have “exacerbated the failing medical responses” and are increasing “anti-Americanism that is at the heart of both regimes’ hold on power.”

This embarrassingly simplistic view ignores the fact that, in both countries, anti-regime sentiments are stronger among the populace than anti-American sentiments. Both regimes hold power in spite of their people’s beliefs, not because of them.

The senators further undercut their argument by calling attention to 2003, when an earthquake killed 26,000 people in Iran. They applaud the Bush administration for having “temporarily suspended sanctions to send 150,000 pounds of medical supplies and more than 200 aid workers on military aircraft to help the people of Iran recover.” Such actions “show… that above all else, America cares about the preservation of human life.” The senators perhaps forgot that in 2012 after another earthquake, President Obama’s Treasury Department temporarily lifted sanctions against Iran.

But if American aid diminishes anti-Americanism, why does it persist among Iran’s clerics? Why didn’t it end in 2003 or 2012, after those displays of compassion? Why haven’t the mullahs realized that American philanthropy contradicts their “Great Satan” narrative?

The gullible Democrats seem ignorant of the well-documented fact that when relief money flows into Iran, it disappears. Pompeo revealed on March 23 that more than 1 billion euros designated for Iran’s fight against the coronavirus reportedly have gone missing, and personal protection equipment donated to Iranian hospitals has wound up for sale on the black market. Pompeo tweeted a video on March 28 showing Iranian President Hassan Rouhani acknowledging a “concerted effort to influence public opinion … aimed at bringing back our money seized in other countries.” Pompeo says Rouhani’s “concerted effort to lift U.S. sanctions isn’t about fighting the pandemic. It’s about cash for the regime’s leaders.”

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