Mar
U.S. sanctions on Iran are ineffective and immoral
President Obama boasted during a 2012 Presidential debate that his economic sanctions were “crippling” Iran’s economy and by no means did he exaggerate. Sanctions levied against Iran have injured Iran’s working class and made it extremely difficult, despite “humanitarian” exemptions, for civilians to acquire medicine. Nearly half of Iranian adults polled said that sanctions have “personally hurt” their “livelihood” “a great deal.” Despite this, 63 percent of Iranians think their government should continue its nuclear program anyway. It is perhaps unsurprising that people being abused by a foreign government would rather not have that government dictate policies to them.
Perhaps dealing the fatal blow to the notion that these sanctions, as terrible as they are, may still advance U.S. interests, The Washington Post asserted today that the sanctions have yet to produce any tangible benefits.
Nine months after Iran was hit with the toughest restrictions in its history, the nation’s economy appears to have settled into a slow, downward glide, hemorrhaging jobs and hard currency but appearing to be in no immediate danger of collapse, Western diplomats and analysts say.
At the same time, the hardships have not triggered significant domestic protests or produced a single concession by Iran on its nuclear program. Although weakened, Iran has resisted Western pressure through a combination of clever tactics, political repression and old-fashioned stubbornness, analysts say.
[…]
Although Iran has been under U.S. sanctions since the 1979 takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, the restrictions imposed last summer were the most significant attempt to hit its oil sector and central bank. The results surprised even the strongest advocates of sanctions: Exports of Iranian oil, Tehran’s chief source of hard currency, fell to about 1 million barrels a day a year ago from more than 2.4 million barrels. At the same time, restrictions on Iran’s main banking institutions crippled the country’s ability to conduct business transactions abroad, with consequences that have rippled across the economy.
The impact has been hardest on the middle and working classes, which have seen savings evaporate and purchasing power dry up.
Oct
On the matter of Iran…Netanyahu would be wrong to root for Romney. Barack Obama is the one who’s more likely to confront Iran militarily, should sanctions and negotiations fail. He has committed himself to stopping Iran by any means necessary, and he has a three-year record as president to back his rhetoric. Romney has only rhetoric, and he would be hamstrung in many ways if he chose military confrontation.
We know that U.S. voters, and world leaders, allow Obama extraordinary leeway when it comes to deadly drone strikes, precisely because of his politics, character and background. (We are talking about a man, after all, who won the Nobel Peace Prize while ordering the automated killing of suspected Muslim terrorists around the world.) Romney will get no comparative slack.
Jul
Apr
Israel demanding quick results from Iran
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Tuesday his country has never promised the United States it would hold off from attacking Iran while nuclear talks were taking place.
The comments, in which Barak said that a diplomatic push to reach a compromise with Iran was a waste of “precious time,” further exposed a rift between Israel and the U.S. over how to deal with Iran and its nuclear program.
The U.S. favors diplomacy and economic sanctions and has said military action on Iran’s nuclear facilities should only be a last resort if all else fails.
Officials from the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany met with Iran in Istanbul last weekend to discuss the country’s nuclear program. The talks were described as positive, and they agreed to meet again on May 23 in Baghdad.
Barak told Israel’s Army Radio he did not believe the talks would prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. “We regret the time being lost. This is precious time,” he said.
Barak said the talks needed to yield quick results.
Earlier this week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran got a “freebie” from the international community, saying the May meeting gave the Iranians an additional five weeks to continue uranium enrichment without any restrictions. He said Iran should be forced to stop this immediately.
Netanyahu was publicly rebuked by President Barack Obama, who said the U.S. had not “given anything away” in the talks.
The Obama administration has urgently sought to hold off Israeli military action, which would likely result in the U.S. being pulled into a conflict.
Mar
Iran agrees to reopen nuclear talks with world powers
The major nations are keen to get Iran to enter talks on curbing its uranium enrichment program, which the West suspects is aimed at developing a nuclear weapons capability but Tehran says is peaceful.
Western officials in particular are hoping the increasingly harsh sanctions they have imposed on the major oil producer in the last few months will make it more willing to compromise in the long-running nuclear row and help avert the threat of war in the Middle East.
Iran has so far shown no sign of backing down over nuclear development, which it sees as its inalienable right.
The last meeting between Iran and the representatives of the U.N. Security Council nations and Germany, held in Istanbul in January 2011, failed to even agree on an agenda.
Mar
President Obama speaks to the Iranian people
Mar
Mar
Israeli national-security officials are considering a pre-emptive strike on Iran in the near future
A widely held assumption about a pre-emptive strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities is that it would spur Iranian citizens — many of whom appear to despise their rulers — to rally around the regime. But Netanyahu, I’m told, believes a successful raid could unclothe the emperor, emboldening Iran’s citizens to overthrow the regime (as they tried to do, unsuccessfully, in 2009).
It’s one of several arguments I’ve heard in the past week, as I’ve shuttled between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, that have convinced me that Israeli national-security officials are considering a pre- emptive strike in the near future.
After interviewing many people with direct knowledge of internal government thinking, however, I’m highly confident that Netanyahu isn’t bluffing — that he is in fact counting down to the day when he will authorize a strike against a half-dozen or more Iranian nuclear sites.
Mar
Mar
Mar
Yep.
Mar
