However, the negotiations broke down because the U.S.-led group refused to ease sanctions or acknowledge Iran's right to enrich uranium at all. One U.S. official said bluntly that recognizing that right is "obviously not something we are prepared to do"--a continuation of U.S. policy for decades.
Sanctions are adding to the suffering and deprivation faced by ordinary Iranians. In moments of candor, U.S. officials admit this is one of their goals: to "create hate and discontent at the street level," as one official put it, in order to weaken the IRI. ("Public ire one goal of Iran sanctions, U.S. official says," Washington Post, January 10)
Obama's "Engagement" Policy--Instrument for "the Harshest and Most Coercive Measures Against Iran"
The U.S. negotiating stance demonstrates that its concern has never simply been preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons, much less ridding the world of nuclear weapons. For them, Iran's nuclear program is a concentration of a larger problem: the ways the IRI is challenging U.S.-Israeli dominance. Iran's technical ability to build a bomb--whether it made one or not--could change the regional political and military balance of power--in particular the freedom of the U.S. regional attack dog, Israel, to attack anyone, anytime. This may be one of the IRI's objectives, as part of a broader effort to strengthen its economic-technical capabilities and its political standing, while demanding that these interests--and the regime's permanence--be recognized by the big powers. In the eyes of the imperialists, anything that strengthens the IRI and makes it more difficult to overthrow is, to this point, a non-starter.
Former Bush officials Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann Leverett write that the U.S. negotiating position is driven by "the Obama team's ongoing commitment to American hegemony in the Middle East". [I]t treats nuclear negotiations with Tehran as a venue for making the Islamic Republic surrender to American demands, not as an important element in realigning the U.S.-Iranian relationship." ("Nuclear Talks with Iran Highlight the Downsides of America's Ongoing Quest for Middle East Hegemony," May 28, http://www.raceforiran.com/)
The U.S. has never recognized the permanence or legitimacy of the IRI; instead its strategy over many years has been to isolate, weaken and ultimately overthrow it. This remains the case under Obama. At a recent conference on Iran, State Department officials argued openly to Iranian activists that "the US priority in Iran is not human rights violations and not public opinion in Iran. Rather, the diplomat insisted that Washington's main concern was Iran's nuclear program, its impact on the security of Israel, and avenues for regime-change. He mentioned Pakistan as an example where regime-change is no longer possible because of its nuclear capabilities." (John Glaser, "US Iran Policy Intended to Leave Open "Avenues for Regime Change,'" May 28, Antiwar.com, citing Prof. Joshua Landis)
The Obama administration has used negotiations and diplomacy as a means of advancing those objectives--not peacefully resolving differences with other countries. A former Iranian official and member of Iran's nuclear negotiation team sums up:
"Obama has been more confrontational with Iran than any previous American president". [T]he Obama administration has been even more hostile toward Iran than the US under George W. Bush". While the Obama administration claimed to be seeking conciliation in 2009, they were advising allies that their outreach was designed to demonstrate that engagement with Iran would fail". Obama's engagement policy has actually been the instrument through which the United States has adopted the harshest and most coercive measures against Iran and rallied the international community around a strategy of isolating Iran". Taking this into account, the Obama administration is viewed by the Iranian government as having escalated the bilateral crisis between the two countries." (Asli Bali, "Iran Will Require Assurances - An Interview with Hossein Mousavian," MERIP, May 16)
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