Daily Alert Archives

Accelerate Iran Sanctions Now

(Weekly Standard) Reuel Marc Gerecht and Mark Dubowitz - Few in the administration now believe that Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei will compromise unless sanctions endanger his regime. Can we put enough pressure on Khamenei and his praetorians to either crack the regime or make the supreme leader believe that the nuclear program actually threatens his rule? The near-miraculous attack of the centrifuge-destroying Stuxnet virus has bought the administration time and further strengthened those who want to use sticks to stop Khamenei's nuclear aspirations. The trick for Washington now is how to ratchet up significantly the pain in Tehran while encouraging our allies to continue to do more than they'd originally thought possible. Thinking always of Khamenei's Achilles' heel, Washington should aim its efforts at cutting foreign Iranian crude oil purchases. The Europeans have already cut tech transfers to and future investments in Iranian oil and natural gas, severely damaging Tehran's ability to sustain current production. The Chinese are sharply reducing their purchases of Iranian crude and Japan, too, is cutting back. The issue for the Obama administration is whether it will have the foresight to accelerate sanctions that are probably coming in any case. Gerecht is a senior fellow and Dubowitz is executive director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
2010-12-29 08:37:20
Full Article