However, ongoing suspicions about nuclear matters is not the only manifestation of ill-will between Washington and Tehran. Two other recent developments are notable, and the Biden administration’s stance on both of them highlights the chronic blind spots and hypocrisy that have plagued US policy toward Iran for the past four decades.
In late May, the Iranian government dispatched two of its ships, a frigate and a converted oil tanker, on a voyage that US leaders worried might end up in Venezuela as a symbol of support for Nicolas Maduro’s beleaguered, anti‑U.S. regime. The Biden administration reacted like a scalded cat. U.S. officials warned Caracas that such a deployment would be an unwise provocation. A National Security Council spokesperson later emphasized that Venezuela had purchased weapons from Iran over a year ago, and warned that any new delivery of weapons “would be a provocative act and a threat to our partners in this hemisphere.”
Washington’s double standard was extraordinarily blatant. The United States and its NATO allies maintain a large, ongoing naval presence in the Persian Gulf right on Iran’s doorstep. US officials apparently do not consider that deployment of massive Western military power a provocation of any sort. Yet, Tehran’s decision to send a pair of ships from its second-rate navy into Washington’s general neighborhood is supposedly a dangerous provocation. The willful blindness of US leaders on this score is breathtaking. A satirical cartoon that circulated on Facebook last year effectively captured the hypocrisy. It showed a map of Iran along with the sites of US military installations in the region. The caption stated: “Iran Clearly Wants War. Look How Close They Put Their Country to Our Military Bases.” US leaders seem to operate under a similar assumption.