via Lobe Log
Last week Paul Pillar wrote that our sanctions-happy Congress is hindering progress with Iran. This week three high-level members of the US foreign policy elite are asking Congress to not lose sight of the end-goal — peacefully reaching a mutually acceptable settlement over Iran’s nuclear program — by strangling Iran to near-death with punitive measures while offering no relief. According to Lee Hamilton, Thomas Pickering and Anthony Zinni — all endorsers of a major recent report signed by 35 other foreign policy luminaries on the costs and benefits of Iran sanctions — sanctions can be counterproductive if they’re not wielded properly:
This spiderweb of sanctions and objectives, wrapped up in legislative hurdles, could restrict President Barack Obama’s options should he decide to offer incentives for Iran to cooperate at the negotiating table. If a bilateral meeting were arranged, American negotiators would need to select what to offer Iran in exchange for securing U.S. goals, the most important of which must be a serious reduction of, and greater transparency around, Iran’s nuclear program. Included in that offer would surely be some sanctions relief.
Our leaders must weigh the easy and appealing course of ever-greater sanctions as a way to force a ready-to-deal Iran to the table against testing the possibility that the existing sanctions have already done that work. The president should work with Congress to achieve the right mix of pressure and engagement to get Iran to negotiate on increasingly urgent and threatening differences. There should be talks between the president and senior senators to make sure there is a plan to strengthen or roll back sanctions as needed to get what we want from Iran in negotiations.
En Español
The Latest
From IPS News
- Small Island States Fostering Effective Energy Transition To Achieve a Blue Economy
- Attacks on UNRWA Not About Its Neutrality, Says UNRWA Chief
- US Foreign Policy in Middle East Still Governed by Israeli Priorities
- Rich Nation Hypocrisy Accelerating Global Heating
- Seeking Justice for the Civilian Victims of the Syrian Civil War
- Who Should be the Next UN Leader?PART 7 FINAL
- Will a Two-State Solution include Palestine as a UN Member State?
- UN Live’s CEO Katja Iversen Talks About the Power of Popular Culture and ‘Sounds Right’
- Afghan Women’s Voices Stifled as Taliban Tightens Media Controls
- ‘Toasting the World’s Most Natural Talent’: UN Museum Campaign Recognizes NATURE’s Contributions to Music
- Online fundraising for IPS Inter Press Service at Razoo