Clinton Presses for Sanctions to Save Iran’s ‘Islamic Republic’ From Military

Bizarre New Tack Accuses Military of Eyeing Dictatorship at Ayatollahs' Expense

The Obama Administration’s endless quest for additional sanctions against Iran has taken a new and bizarre form today, when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton actually argued that the sanctions were necessary to save the nation’s Islamic Republic system of government from growing military influence.

We see that the Government in Iran, the Supreme Leader, the President, the parliament is being supplanted and that Iran is moving towards a military dictatorship,” Clinton warned.

She also expressed concern that Iran could become “a far cry from the Islamic Republic that had elections and different points of view.” Perplexingly, the United States has taken an extremely negative view of Iran’s post-revolution form of government from the beginning, and has regularly backed military juntas across the Middle East.

Now, Secretary Clinton seems to see the “crippling sanctions” across the board as a way of saving the Islamic Republic from the Revolutionary Guards. At least that’s the current line as the administration pushes forward with garnering international support for the move.

As if underscoring how readily the administration changes its line to fit the situation, Clinton’s comments came just a day after National Security Adviser James Jones advocated new sanctions on Fox News with the argument that the sanctions could undermine the Islamic Republic enough that the Green Revolution opposition might take over in a regime change.

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.