On Dec. 12, Iran executed Ruhollah Zam—a courageous journalist the regime lured from France, kidnapped in Iraq, and spirited to Tehran. In 2017, Zam’s writing helped inspire national protests over the country’s dire economic situation. Zam criticized the regime’s choice to sacrifice the basic needs of the Iranian people in order to prop up the Assad regime in Syria.

The execution is the latest in a long history of Iranian dissident killings, including hundreds of journalists and last summer’s killing of champion wrester Navid Afkari.

Iran’s actions raise serious questions about whether fellow Western democracies should maintain normal trade and political relations that serve to strengthen a regime so deeply committed to gross human rights violations.

Iran’s behavior after entering the 2015 Iran nuclear deal—formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)—dashed the hopes of those believing that the nuclear agreement would help moderate the Iranian regime. In fact, in the three years that the United States and Iran were both party to the JCPOA, the Islamic Republic and its allies fomented terror around the world, armed and equipped terrorist groups throughout the Middle East, and took American service members hostage. While one can debate whether Iran adhered to the temporary nuclear restrictions mandated by the JCPOA, there is no doubt that Iran accelerated its aggressive behavior in other arenas not covered by the nuclear understanding.