Trying for Sanctions Against Iran

The Obama Administration is continuing to be impotent in foreign policy.

The Obama administration is shifting the focus of its Iran policy from talk to sanctions, but the prospect of winning early international support for toughened new penalties appears dim.

Equally problematic is finding a set of sanctions that would have a significant impact on the prime target of American and international worry: Iran’s suspected pursuit of an atom bomb. Three rounds of U.N. sanctions, dating to December 2006 and aimed mainly at squeezing Iran’s nuclear work, have had little apparent effect.

The administration may get an early indication of its prospects at a huddle Friday in Brussels with senior diplomats from the four other permanent members of the U.N. Security Council — Russia, China, Britain and France — plus Germany. Any decisions on new Iran sanctions, though, are likely weeks away.

The administration has tried for months to draw Iran into talks to resolve international worries that its declared intent to develop a civilian nuclear power network is cover for a secret nuclear weapons program. But the Iranians have shown little interest, while denying any clandestine nuclear ambition.

I thought the world was supposed to love us now.  Not only can we not get any movement in Iran, we can’t even get our allies on board.  And sanctions?  As the story indicates, that hasn’t exactly been successful in the past with Iran (or North Korea for that matter). 

That being said, the Iran problem is a massively complicated issue and there are no good options.  But to dither around trying things that have already filed seems senseless.