Having managed to finally push through sanctions against the Iranian government at the UN Security Council, the Obama Administration is crowing that the move is a major “win” for their policy.
“We are gratified by the positive response that our year of engagement has produced,” insisted Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who has repeatedly said that the feigned US calls for diplomacy have been about convincing the world that Iran wasn’t interested in talking.
Ironically the Obama Administration’s “year of engagement” netted a third party enrichment deal, which the administration demanded Iran sign and pushed sanctions over. When Iran did sign it, the administration condemned that as well and insisted that the sanctions go forward.
Besides underscoring to the international community, notably Brazil and Turkey, that the administration was negotiating in bad faith, the sanctions “win” looks like it will accomplish very little, except for convincing Iran that there is no productive use in persuing diplomacy with President Obama in the future.
They will also target Iran’s energy sector, though the sanctions themselves make only vague references to exactly how, and it seems to be up to the Obama Administration to decide how they want to interpret it.
If anything, it underscores the administration’s ability to, after six months, finally harangue most of the international community into supporting a pointless sanctions resolution on the basis of an ever-changing but always frivilous littany of allegations against Iran.
