Obama’s Tough Policy on Iran Proving Effective

Lauren Samet — October 18, 2011 – 3:11 pm | Barack Obama | Foreign Policy | Iran Comments (0) Add a comment

President Barack Obama has consistently made preventing a nuclear-armed Iran a top foreign policy priority. Now, with western diplomats and nuclear experts saying Iran’s nuclear program “appears beset by poorly performing equipment, shortages of parts and other woes as global sanctions exert a mounting toll,” it is clear that President Obama’s strategy is working.

The Washington Post’s Joby Warrick reported on Obama’s effectiveness in setting back Iran’s nuclear program:

Although Iran continues to stockpile enriched uranium in defiance of U.N. resolutions, two new reports portray the country’s nuclear program as riddled with problems as scientists struggle to keep older equipment working.

At Iran’s largest nuclear complex, near the city of Natanz, fast-spinning machines called centrifuges churn out enriched uranium. But the average output is steadily declining as the equipment breaks down, according to an analysis of data collected by U.N. nuclear officials.

Iran has vowed to replace the older machines with models that are faster and more efficient. Yet new centrifuges recently introduced at Natanz contain parts made from an inferior type of metal that is weaker and more prone to failure, according to a report by the Institute for Science and International Security, a Washington nonprofit group widely regarded for its analysis of nuclear programs.

‘Without question, they have been set back,’ said David Albright, president of the institute and a former inspector for the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency. Although the problems are not fatal for Iran’s nuclear ambitions, they have ‘hurt Iran’s ability to break out quickly’ into the ranks of the world’s nuclear powers, Albright said.

The Obama administration has successfully led the global effort to place crippling economic sanctions on Iran—specifically on its petroleum and natural gas sectors—as well as to isolate Iran with rising international pressure. This summer the Obama administration targeted Iranian agencies for their human rights violations, and imposed sanctions that restrict business between US companies and Iran Air, Tidewater Middle East Company, and other banking and transportation companies.

Last week, in response to an alleged Iranian plot to kill the Saudi Ambassador to the United States, the President has vowed to push for the “toughest sanctions” against Iran. The New York Times’s Helene Cooper reported:

Appearing next to the South Korean president, Mr. Lee, who was in Washington for a state visit, Mr. Obama promised to ‘apply the toughest sanctions and continue to mobilize the international community to make sure that Iran is further and further isolated and pays a price for this kind of behavior.’ He said that all options were on the table - a diplomatic signal that he would not rule out military strikes - but administration officials privately say it is highly unlikely that the United   States would respond with force.

Instead, the administration will try to persuade Russia, China, Europe and India to endorse tougher sanctions against Tehran. Thus far, the United States has prodded its international partners to put in place limited sanctions against Iranian officials involved in the country’s nuclear program, as part of the international effort to rein in Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.

Click here to read NJDC’s coverage of the Administration’s tough policy against the Iranian regime.

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