“There is remarkable agreement across the spectrum of Iran experts on what this campaign has achieved: not much. ‘”Maximum pressure” has caused unprecedented economic pain for the Iranian regime, but has not yet resulted in any outcome that advances American interests,’ concluded an analysis by Michael Singh, who was senior director for Middle East affairs at the National Security Council during the George W. Bush administration. ‘It has not resulted in a new U.S.-Iran negotiation, ended or meaningfully obstructed Iranian regional activities, or provoked political instability in Iran.’ Recent prisoner exchanges haven’t altered the larger confrontation…”
