The Hill: Trump's Iran sanctions signal resolve to maintain nuclear deal
On Friday the Treasury Department added 13 persons and 12 entities to their Specially Designated Nationals list for supporting “Iranian destabilizing activity.” According to National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, the sanctions communicate the end of “turning a blind eye to Iran’s hostile and belligerent actions toward the United States and the world community.”
The designations come in response to Tehran’s recent flight-testing of nuclear-capable ballistic missiles, as well as the ongoing cultivation by the Quds Force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ external arm, of assets and allies throughout the Middle East.
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WNU Editor: Rhetoric aside .... the White House could have clobbered Iran with far reaching sanctions this week .... but choose not to. What's my take on why .... it is a signal to Iran from the new Trump administration that they will not be like President Obama who choose to follow a more restrained approach when it came to Iran .... and that these measures are nothing more but the White House positioning itself to respond more forcefully if Iran conducts more missile tests in the future. It is also a signal to U.S. allies in the region who are nervous with what Iran is doing, and that the U.S. will be following a different policy from the past administration. The ball is now in Iran's court .... and what they will do in the future will dictate how the U.S. will respond. My prediction .... the Iranians view their policy of missile tests and military drills as critical to their national security and sovereignty .... they will ignore these warnings from the White House. The Iranians are also going to the polls this year, and the leadership are divided. The current Iranian government is focused on developing better relations with the West, the end of sanctions, and economic reforms. On the other side ..... the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, the clergy, and those who have benefited from 35 years of hostility towards the West have a different agenda, and they are now feeling threatened by these changes and reforms. These Iranian "hardliners" are using the missile tests and the response from the West to galvanise their own public opinion .... and I am willing to bet that it will work when Iranians go to the polls and if more sanctions are imposed on Iran in the coming months.
3 comments:
I have not seen any material that suggests Iran was not allowed to do what they did--but then I am not up on such things. But clearly Iran is not bending to the American action of sanctions, and in fact is planning further missile firings...this is a serious Dare you game than might easily go bad
If what the editors states is true, then additional sanctions are the absolute wrong way to go. We should be doing things to strengthen those who want better relations with the "west" and want economic reforms. By imposing additional sanctions this only serves to drive the people into the arms of those who want conflict with the "west" and the "death to America" group.
There are also those who say that both the "moderates" and the "hardliners" want "death to America." In this case, no matter who wins there is no possibility of better relations with Iran, however, in either case sanctions are not going to be effective and they strengthen the leadership as they reinforce a "foreign devil" and an "us against them" attitude that only serves to strengthen the resolve of the leaders and the people to oppose those imposing sanctions.
Essentially the hold on power a given leadership has is positively correlated with sanctions. The harder the sanctions, the stronger position the leaders of the nations have that sanctions are imposed on. Essentially more sanctions equals more opposition to America and a stronger position for those who are opposed to America.
One definition of insanity is to continue to do the same thing over and over again expecting a different result. Some just can't learn.
Sanctions have the added cost of undermining the role of US dollar as world reserve currency and virtually assure a hard landing for us when the dollar's position as world reserve currency is lost.
With that said sanctions may have limited utility against small countries who are weak and have few allies. Iran is the opposite of this criteria. Sanctions MIGHT work if the US has the support of Russia, China, and other major powers here. While possible, such support seems unlikely.
We dug ourselves a deep hole placing sanctions on Russia, Iran, and others in the first place. When one finds themselves in a hole, the best thing to do is STOP DIGGING!!
"it is a signal to Iran from the new Trump administration that they will not be like President Obama who choose to follow a more restrained approach when it came to Iran ."
-WNU
If you call handing over 1.3 billion dollars a restrained approach you are fucking delusional and need to wake the hell up. Obama purposely funded and allowed the build up of the Iranian war machine who's intent is to destroy Israel (that's not just the hardliners).
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