Professor Raymond Tanter, a former member of the White House National Security Council staff and current President of the Iran Policy Committee spoke at a press conference in Paris.

On Feb. 1, the PRNewswire-USNewswire reported from Paris that Prof. Tanter told members of the media that “There is a need to create a cocktail of diplomatic, military, and political options to counter the Iranian threat.
Regarding diplomatic options, the West has already reached out to the Iranian regime with positive offers; the West should continue to balance those benefits with negative incentives in the form of economic sanctions against Tehran, as well as extending a hand to Iran’s main opposition. Only an even-handed policy can compel compliance.”

Prof. Tanter concluded that the mix of international policies lacks a tough political component that can act as leverage against Tehran:
“Reaching out to the Iranian opposition by delisting the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) from the U.S. Foreign Terrorist Organizations list would motivate the regime to choose between pursuit of the Bomb and survival of the regime.

Extending a hand to the NCRI would also bring Washington in line with the European Union, which has never listed that group as a terrorist organization.

The EU should also follow the finding of its own Court of First Instance, of 12 December 2006, as well as the 1 December 2007 ruling by the UK Proscribed Organisations Appeals Commission and remove the largest member organization of the NCRI — the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI) — from the EU terrorist list.

Once the EU Commission follows its own judiciary and delists the PMOI, Paris would be in a unique position to help Washington follow the EU, and remove all Iranian opposition groups from its terrorist lists.”