This Is Not Time to Slap Iran

A vote in the US House of Representatives in favor of harsher economic sanctions for Iran, days before the president’s inauguration, could be counterproductive, explains Trudy Rubin of the Philadelphia Inquirer. She urges the US should try negotiations before the Senate votes, considering that sanctions have only hurt the Iranian economy and not deterred the nuclear program. Critics suggest that little has changed in Iran with the supreme leader and other ayatollahs in control, but Rubin points out that the Middle East is rapidly changing: Iran’s ally in Syria, Bashar al Assad is in the midst of civil war; Iraq, west of Iran, is besieged by conflict, too; to the east, in Afghanistan, the Taliban continue to eye power and remain opposed to Shiites; oil prices are dropping, and the US is pushing peace talks for Israelis and Palestinians. “The regional threat from Tehran is shrinking; the global threat is overrated,” she writes. “And a strike on Tehran would only delay, not stop, Iran's nuclear program anyway.” More sanctions, with no effort for negotiations, could lead to war. – YaleGlobal