If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck. Today one could use this saying and apply it to the mullahs in Iran. If they sponsor terrorists, conduct terrorist attacks and threaten violence, then it probably is a terrorist regime. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, by claiming responsibility for the 12 missiles launched against US interests in Irbil on Sunday, has given 12 supplementary signs — if needed — of the terror this regime brings to the region. Unfortunately, as the Middle East suffers from this terror, the West ignores these actions and rewards them with negotiations on the nuclear deal. The term “we do not negotiate with terrorists” is long gone when it comes to the mullahs. From Yemen to Lebanon, the regime has not changed its agenda or given signs it wishes to establish a new path once a nuclear deal is reached. Western countries and Russia should beware of these actions and take them at face value. Today, there is no justification for this terror. There is no resistance, as they claim, just terror and destruction unleashed across the Middle East. Rewarding terrorism is an extremely negative signal emanating from this deal. It has already started creating dreaded reactions in the Middle East and globally. It is undeniable. If Iran can conduct its activities and be rewarded, then it is a method more and more countries will follow. The framing of this deal and the way negotiations are being conducted projects weakness. Not soft power, simply weakness. And so this, along with disengagement from the Middle East by the US, is a bad signal. The regime in Iran benefits from this weakness and division. It is nevertheless understandable that successive US Democratic administrations, from President Jimmy Carter to President Joe Biden, have tried to give diplomacy with the regime in Iran a chance. It comes with the logic that, if Republican administrations are too aggressive, then we should try something else. However, one should also conclude that, unfortunately, after more than 40 years, this “detente” has never yielded positive results. Not because the US did not show understanding, but because the regime only understands and speaks the language of terror. And so these policies have simply empowered the mullahs to look into increasing their bargaining power. Now, as a parting gift from the US, the Iranian regime is potentially getting more than a lifeline with this new nuclear deal. It will be translated into deaths and misery across the region. The framing of this deal and the way negotiations are being conducted projects weakness on the part of the West Tweet It is therefore important that members of the current US administration ask the correct questions: Do they really believe that the Iranian population is threatened by the Arab world? Is Saddam Hussein still in power in Iraq? Are the Taliban threatening Iran? The answer to all these questions is no. Yet, even with friendly neighbors, Iran’s regime acts with belligerence and violence. If needed, Iraq is the prime example of the regime’s hypocrisy. Their Iraqi brothers are unable to break free of the threat of the Iranian-backed militias that are ruining the country’s democratic exercise. By pursuing this policy, the West is putting the region at risk and is losing friends, while not even neutralizing an enemy. So how do we shift away from this logic, which will only bring more chaos? We must first come to the conclusion that we will keep facing the evil of this regime. It will not change. It will keep interfering negatively in regional affairs. It does not want to participate in the region’s infrastructure and have its “vote” or role; it simply wants to destroy and build a steel veil over Iraq, Syria and Lebanon and impose its theology on others. This simply will not change. Lebanon is another example where Hezbollah, under the false pretense of resistance, is imposing an Iran-like regime on the country’s people. It is killing and destroying the state day after day. And so, we have no choice other than to keep facing this evil and doing our best to block its actions, even if it gets the blessing of the West in the form of a weak nuclear deal. There have been mightier enemies and they were defeated. But the West cannot continue with this pattern of yielding to the regime’s wishes. They can be sure that the post-deal Iran of 2022 will be the same as the post-deal Iran of 2015, if not worse. It is this regime that killed and displaced millions of Syrian refugees. They must not forget. This is why it is time the US and EU clearly supported its historic friends and allies in the region by building the military infrastructure that is needed to deter the regime in Tehran. It is time to look at removing resources from the IRGC, not giving it more tools. In simple terms, this means the establishment and execution, in coordination with regional powers, of an overarching strategy that deters and pushes back on the mullahs’ agenda across the various theaters with a new vision for the Middle East. It is not a certainty that this regime will take over Lebanon, Syria and Iraq if we act today. If they do not hear the duck quacking, then Europe, more than the Middle East, will pay a heavy price. • Khaled Abou Zahr is CEO of Eurabia, a media and tech company. He is also the editor of Al-Watan Al-Arabi. Disclaimer: Views expressed by writers in this section are their own and do not necessarily reflect Arab News" point of view