Parallel to such policy overhauls, the U.S. should stand alongside the Iranian people and their organized resistance, represented for decades by the National Council of Resistance of Iran, the umbrella group of different organizations and individuals led by Maryam Rajavi, advocating regime change and peaceful transition to democracy.

Why Trump should focus on Iran's human rights abuses

While Iran does pose a major military threat, through supporting what has been described by Trump as "radical Islamist terrorism," Tehran's ongoing human rights abuses should finally receive the long overdue attention they deserve. 

In fact, U.S. interests can be advanced through a robust challenging of Iran's domestic dissent crackdown. U.S. strategy seeking to confront Iran would receive a correct boost through combating Tehran's authoritarian dogma.

What needs comprehension in the West is that the mullahs fear U.S. military power far less than its ability to launch a "cultural war." While Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has mistakenly invested on a theory of military threats rallying the Iranian population around the flag, a cultural onslaught, however, would weaken the willpower of his already dwindling base.

To this end, at a time when Iran's human rights abuses have intensified enormously from the early days of the 1979 revolution, the regime has pressed the gas pedal on such measures when deemed necessary, when the very doctrine of its Islamist rule faces an escalating threat.

For example, through the past four years, while President Hassan Rouhani claimed to lead a so-called "reformist" or "moderate" approach, he has simultaneously sent more than 3,000 people to the gallows.

Following the signing of the Iran nuclear deal, Tehran launched a major crackdown campaign resulting in waves of arrests, reminding many of the days following the 2009 uprising. The regime was quite aware to make it crystal clear for all parties that the nuclear pact would not render any widespread engagement between Iran and the West, most specifically Washington.