Economic Sanctions Against Iran
By Michael Jacobson
On April 18, 2007, senior Treasury and State Department officials testifying before Congress were criticized for failing to employ sufficiently tough economic sanctions against Iran. This failure was partly attributed to Washington's fear of upsetting foreign allies. Ironically enough, the Bush administration could use such congressional pressure as leverage in its efforts to forge effective international cooperation on Iran.
Congressional Pressure
The hearing -- a joint session of House Foreign Affairs and Financial Services subcommittees -- focused on efforts to isolate proliferators of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and state sponsors of terrorism through financial means such as sanctions. Committee members criticized the government's failure to fully exploit existing tools and encouraged the Bush administration to ramp up economic sanctions targeting Iran. One focus was Washington's longstanding unwillingness to sanction foreign companies for investing in Iran's energy sector. Many have argued that such sanctions could cause a backlash and undermine U.S. efforts to build a broad international coalition against Iran -- financial penalties would likely apply to companies in Europe and Japan, whose support is considered essential to the success of any international effort.
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