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| Bank Markazi, Iran's Central Bank, gets a pass from President Obama |
Obama refuses to enact stiff economic punishments against Iran -Paul Richter
The Obama administration slapped Iran with a new round of sanctions for its alleged nuclear and terrorist activities, but stopped short of the tough economic punishments favored by many in Congress.
In an announcement coordinated with Britain and Canada, U.S. officials said they are imposing new punishments aimed at Iran's petrochemical sector and organizations involved in the country's nuclear program or terrorism, such as the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and its elite Quds Force. The most damaging new step will be to identify Iran as a source of "primary money laundering concern." Officials hope the designation will prompt many international companies to break off business with Iran for fear of damaging their own reputations.
Yet while the administration added another layer to the many existing punishments aimed at isolating Tehran's economy from the world, officials stopped short of imposing full sanctions on the Iranian central bank.
[Jewish World Review]
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UPDATES:
EU Reaches Deal on New Iran Sanctions
EU governments are expected to discuss proposals by France and Britain for further sanctions, such as targeting the Iranian central bank. France also wants to target the oil industry.
(Reuters)
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More Half-Measures on Iran -Editorial
On Monday the administration unveiled another series of half-steps against Iran for plotting to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington and for refusing to freeze its nuclear program.
Sanctions were toughened on Iran's oil industry, but there was no move to block its exports. The Iranian banking system was designated "a primary money laundering concern," but the administration declined to directly sanction the central bank.
At the forefront of the Western effort to pressure Tehran is French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who issued a statement calling on "willing countries" to "immediately freeze the assets of Iran's central bank" and suspend purchases of Iranian oil.
Sanctions that stop Iran from exporting oil and importing gasoline could deal a decisive blow to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's dictatorship.
By holding back on such measures, the Obama administration merely makes it more likely that drastic action, such as a military attack, eventually will be taken by Israel, or forced on the U.S.
(Washington Post)
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Only Threat of Military Action Will Stop Iran -Michael Eisenstadt
- The recent plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington should be a wake-up call. It indicates that 30 years of Iranian terrorist attacks on American interests, without a U.S. military response, has convinced Tehran that it can continue to act with impunity - even on U.S. soil. Unless Washington alters Tehran's risk calculus, the U.S. may be targeted again.
- Advocates of containment frequently gloss over the fact that to work, it must be backed up with a credible threat of force; that the costs of a nuclear deterrence failure in a proliferated Middle East may be measured in millions of lives lost; and that the likelihood of a nuclear deterrence failure is not trivial, given the propensity of an embattled and increasingly insular and hard-line regime in Tehran to miscalculate and overreach.
- Paradoxically, to succeed diplomatically and to deter, the U.S.
needs to be ready to use force in response to further acts of terrorism
by Iran, or to an attempt by Iran to build a bomb. For the threat of
force to work, however, it has to be credible, and it has to
dramatically alter Iran's risk calculus. Right now, neither condition is
present.
The writer is a senior fellow and director of the military and security studies program at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
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2 comments:
This is more complicated than it is made to appear in these recent articles. Russia and China vehemently oppose stronger sanctions that would confiscate money or shut off oil from Iran. The West, not just Obama, have adopted these stronger measures to continue to harm Iran's economy as best they can within these constraints. China has the capability to throw the world into a deeper recession and completely reverse the recent gains in the American economy. Russia has the capability to double or triple natural gas prices and throw the US back into recession. It is also nonsense to claim the US Congress supports harsher measures when it is really only some members of Congress that can say whatever they want because they know their views are meant for soundbites and are too extreme to be adopted. It is easy to speak when you do not have to worry about anyone adopting your solutions. Congress could not even agree on a combination of measures to cut spending while maintaining economic growth. They are clueless about what to do in the MidEast or with Iran, especially with China and Russia so vehemently opposed to harsher sanctions. China and Russia are almost demanding a covert military response because they are leaving very few other doors open.
While true that this is complex...and that there are potentially problematic outcomes of such sanctions, not using them has equally dismal consequences. I'll post some interesting updates later today on this very issue.
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