Let Iran attempt to develop a bomb.  It would make the world generally, and the Mideast specifically, a much safer place.

Sometimes the solution to a problem is counterintuitive.  As Henry Kissinger insightfully noted about Russia's subsidy of the Cuban economy, what America needs is for Russia to have not one, but a hundred Cubas.  Kissinger's astute opinion ran directly counter to then-conventional wisdom.

With its deteriorating economy, its inability to feed its population, and its military obligations, Russia did have the equivalent of a hundred Cubas, and in the winter of 1989–1990, it collapsed.  The world became a better and safer place.

So too with Iran!  It has far-flung military and economic obligations that it can neither afford nor maintain if economic sanctions remain in place.

Iran is aiding Hezb'allah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza.  It is involved in a costly and nearly perpetual war in Yemen through its proxy the Houthis, whom ultimately the Saudis will defeat.  Iran is supporting Shi'a militias in Iraq and the brutal Assad regime in Syria.

If the Biden administration in its infinite wisdom should conclude a deal with Iran, it would no more prevent Iran from building a bomb than the nuclear deal created under the Obama administration.  It would only prolong the inevitable and be founded on the whimsy of regime change.  When there was an opportunity for regime change during the Green Revolution, the Obama administration did nothing.

The absolute worst thing that could happen would be a deal that the Iranians would not adhere to and free up sanctions that would enable Iran to pursue its imperialistic agenda in the Middle East.  This would destabilize the entire region from Iraq to Yemen.

Let us assume that Iran will eventually produce a bomb.  The weapon will not be directed against America or NATO because to do so would be suicide.  Moreover, the idea of Iran producing the components for a dirty bomb given to terrorists is sheer fantasy.  The use of such a weapon would result in Iran's obliteration.  While the mullahs publicly embrace an end of days eschatology, they hold Swiss bank accounts and negotiated, as part of the nuclear deal, for some of their children to secure emigration to America, a demand the Obama administration quickly embraced.

Iran's bomb is designed to check Israel's nuclear capability to enable Iran to launch a conventional war on multiple fronts and not worry about Israel's nuclear retaliation.

But Israel will not sit by and permit Iran to acquire a bomb.  It has already shown that, through covert means, it can create havoc with Iran's nuclear program.  And if that fails, there is always a military option to take out Iran's nuclear sites.

In Vienna, Iran showed its interest in getting sanctions lifted and giving nothing in return.

The Obama administration's original Iran nuclear deal was flawed from inception.  The Biden administration's pursuit of that policy shows a misunderstanding of and ineptness toward the Middle East that rivals its debacle in Afghanistan.

Let Iran try to build, and let the diversion of resources, economic sanctions, and imperialistic proxy wars sink its economy.  Economic misery creates social and political upheaval.  We can look forward to an Iranian collapse indistinguishable from the implosion of the Soviet Union.

That will not happen unless the Biden administration learns that nothing will disrupt the Middle East more than negotiating a phony agreement that begins with the lifting of economic sanctions.

Abraham H. Miller is an emeritus professor of political science, University of Cincinnati, and a distinguished fellow with the Haym Salomon Center.

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