The Wall Street Journal reported Dennis Ross, a former National Security Council official and an advisor at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy as saying the history of the Iranian regime clearly proves one issue: pressure is efficient on the mullahs.
When senior Iranian regime officials see that they are forced to adapt their behavior, they will, Ross added. When Khomeini came to understand the heavy price of the 8-year long Iran-Iraq War – although he preferred to continue – he stopped it and was forced to drink from what he described as the ‘chalice of poison’.