- 28 November 2009
- 3 Comments
- Diplomacy, Human Rights in Iran, Sanctions
What’s Next?
28 November 2009 Posted By David Elliott
The Iranian-Canadian journalist Maziar Bahari, who was recently released from Evin Prison, has an excellent op-ed in today’s Washington Post. In it, Bahari argues two main points: 1) The U.S. must still pursue diplomacy with Iran and 2) Smart sanctions (targeted ones that don’t affect the Iranian people) are the appropriate sanctions to impose.
Our regular readers already know this, but it is worth repeating that this is exactly the position we take here at NIAC. NIAC supports diplomacy with Iran, but NIAC has also been investigating how smart sanctions, which target Iran’s leaders rather than the general population, can be used effectively. (See our membership survey.) Stay tuned for more on this…
In the meantime, everyone should read Bahari’s op-ed in the Washington Post. Also, if you haven’t already seen it, the incredible story of his imprisonment in Newsweek is a must read
3 Responses to “What’s Next?”
[…]NIAC supports diplomacy with Iran, but NIAC has also been investigating how smart sanctions, which target Iran’s leaders rather than the general population, can be used effectively. (See our membership survey.) Stay tuned for more on this…[…]
I really look forward to seeing the results of your research.
it is easy to talk about “smart sanctions that solely target Iran’s nuclear program and do not affect ordinary Iranians”. It is hard to say what those should be and even harder to implement such sanctions.
How does targeting sanctions against Iran’s civilian nuclear power program not hurt the Iranian people? Granted, the program is long term. But it’s a program that is envisioned for the benefit of the Iranian people. If only we Americans had such a long term sustainable energy program. We don’t. Ask yourself why.
“Smart sanctions which target Iran’s leaders”? What are you proposing? We take away Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s ’77 Peugeot?! LOL