Clinton Eyes Sanctions Against Iran ‘Decision Makers’

Insists Meeting This Week to Hammer Out Details

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says that the P5+1 will hold a meeting later this week to decide on exactly what kind of sanctions will be implemented against Iran, dismissing reports of an impending diplomatic solution to the ongoing dispute.

Secretary Clinton suggested she favored “smarter” sanctions that would target Iran’s “decision makers,” without giving any concrete details on who these people are or how this would be accomplished.

Yet P5+1 member China has already ruled out additional sanctions against Iran at this time, and as they currently hold the presidency of the UN Security Council they can block any discussion from even taking place on the matter.

US officials have been seen as hesitant to try to push through the “crippling sanctions” long promised, with analysts suggesting the move was being watered down so as not to imperil the position of the US-backed Reformist movement. Officials have repeatedly talked about sanctions that would harm Iran’s leaders but not the public, yet such sanctions have never been seen in practice and they have given no clues as to how they would even hypothetically work.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.