Saturday, March 20, 2010

New Efforts on Iran Sanctions Run Into Familiar Snags

Tweet It!

The New York Times /

It was Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton who, nearly a year ago, fired the Obama administration’s first warning shots about imposing “crippling sanctions” against Iran. Then came President Obama’s declaration that if Iran did not respond to his overtures for a negotiated end to its production of nuclear fuel by the end of 2009, he would quickly add a “pressure track” to his diplomacy. At the beginning of this year, American and European officials predicted a sanctions resolution at the United Nations Security Council — the fourth in four years — by February to pave the way for much stronger crackdowns by individual countries. Now, all those projections look optimistic. The French are predicting no action until June. Many other Western allies agree. No one in the Obama administration has used the word “crippling” in public in a long while; instead, the new line is that taking time and maintaining unity — code words for Chinese and Russian cooperation — are more important than rushing ahead amid international divisions over how best to convince Iran that the cost of continuing uranium enrichment will be prohibitive.

The delays and the potential for a substantially watered-down resolution, Mr. Obama’s allies say, have put the administration’s credibility on the line in one of its biggest foreign policy challenges. But it also highlights the difficulty he has encountered demonstrating results from the underlying argument of his engagement with Iran: that if he made a bona fide effort to negotiate and was rebuffed, it would be a lot easier to win meaningful sanctions. Mr. Obama has stopped talking about timing, but he insists that he is driving toward sanctions far tougher than anything the Bush administration won. “We’re going to go after aggressive sanctions,” he said in an interview with Fox News on Wednesday. “We haven’t taken any options off the table,” he said, repeating the line that presidents use to hint that military options are still possible, though the Pentagon leadership has often said it believed that option could start a cascade of events that could spill out of control. (Read more...)

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

An outstanding share! I've just forwarded this onto a coworker who has been doing a little homework on this. And he actually bought me breakfast due to the fact that I discovered it for him... lol. So let me reword this.... Thanks for the meal!! But yeah, thanks for spending the time to discuss this matter here on your website.

Also visit my blog - Jackpot 6000 free (journals.fotki.com)

Anonymous said...

I beliеve this is among the so much imρortant info foг me.

And i'm happy reading your article. But want to observation on some general things, The site style is perfect, the articles is in point of fact excellent : D. Excellent activity, cheers

Also visit my page ... rhinoplasty top surgeon

Anonymous said...

I’m not that much of a online reader to be honest but
your sites really nice, keep it up! I'll go ahead and bookmark your site to come back later on. All the best

Have a look at my website; Jackpot 6000

Anonymous said...

Very great post. I simply stumbled upon your weblog and wished to say that I've truly loved surfing around your blog posts. After all I'll be subscribing for your
feed and I hope you write again soon!

Take a look at my webpage :: jackpot 6000 Jackpot 6000 - www.youtube.com -

Anonymous said...

After going over a handful of the blog posts on your site, I seriously like your way of blogging.

I book marked it to my bookmark website list and will be checking back
in the near future. Please check out my website too and tell
me your opinion.

Feel free to visit my site - jackpot 6000

Anonymous said...

bookmarked!!, I like your blog!

Have a look at my weblog - play jackpot 6000 free

Anonymous said...

Hi there, I еnjoу rеading all of yοur
aгticlе poѕt. I wantеԁ tο write a little
commеnt tο suрроrt уou.


Here is mу blοg; rhinοplasty tοp suгgeon (opensusehispano.com)