Path to a new Middle East rests on those campaigning for freedom in Iran

The loss of their state sponsor would be a huge blow to these groups. If Hamas was severely weakened, there actually may be prospects for Israeli-Palestinian peace, freeing the Palestinian authority to agree to a grand bargain. Hezbollah would be severely undermined, creating new opportunities for the Lebanese people and lessening the risk of another conflict with Israel.

Regime change in Iran would also deprive Syria of its connections to the hard-line military and intelligence establishments in Tehran and force it to abandon its role as a transfer point for weapons going to terrorists in Lebanon. This would further the Obama administration’s and the European Union’s efforts to bring Syria into the West more than any visit by a senior administration official or a group of Western businessmen and would have the added benefit of reversing Turkey’s recent descent into the orbit of Tehran and Damascus as well as Lebanon’s renewed flirtation with Damascus.

Finally, the success of the Green Movement would send a message to Islamists throughout the Middle East and beyond that the tide is turning and that leaders who distort the Islamic faith to condone terror and provoke confrontation with the West cannot maintain their grip on power indefinitely.

Given all of the above, there should be little doubt about whether the United States should be more vocal in its support for the Iranian opposition. Unfortunately, President Obama appears to be clinging to his failed strategy despite very few signs of success.

Engagement has failed. It is time for the United States to actively support the democratic opposition in Iran via increased U.S. broadcasting, technology, and restoration of funding for programs that highlight Iranian human rights abuses.

The regime in Tehran is on its way out. If President Obama is serious about creating the “new beginning” that he spoke about during his Cairo speech, he needs to realize that the path to a new Middle East rests on the shoulders of those campaigning for their freedom in the streets of Iran, not via renewed peace process diplomacy.

Jamie M. Fly is Executive Director of the Foreign Policy Initiative. He served in the Bush administration from 2005 to 2009.