Foreign Policy: Why diplomacy and sanctions don’t mix

Last updated on: December 17, 2008 at 7:25 pm by Guest Contributor

Foreign Policy: Why diplomacy and sanctions don’t mix 2008-12-17T19:25:00-04:00 Guest Contributor

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Bridging the (Persian) gulf

Change often occurs at a faster pace than people can comprehend. That is certainly the case with the quickly-shifting political realities in Washington on Iran. In less than 50 days, America will be led by a president who made dialogue with Tehran a campaign promise – and yet he won. Perhaps even more surprising, one of the most powerful lobbies in Washington failed – in the middle of an election year – to convince the US Congress to pass a resolution calling for a naval blockade of Iran, even though the resolution had more than 250 co-sponsors.

The debate in Washington is no longer whether to negotiate with Iran, but how, when and in what sequence such negotiations should take place. This, however, does not mean that talks will occur or that they will succeed. This is partly due to an unchanging feature of the political landscape in Washington – the reliance on economic sanctions to look tough and to gain leverage.

President-elect Barack Obama, who told the American Israel Public Affairs Committee earlier this year that he stood firm on his call for negotiations with Iran and his promise to do away with “self-defeating preconditions”, has sought to balance his pro-dialogue position by adopting a strong appetite for additional economic sanctions against Iran. While a senator, he was the original co-sponsor of the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability and Divestment Act of 2008, which would have intensified existing sanctions and paved the way for additional divestment. Obama argued at the time that sanctions were an integral part of any diplomatic strategy. “In addition to an aggressive, direct, and principled diplomatic effort, we must continue to increase economic pressure on Iran”, he said in a statement. Some of Obama’s advisors have taken this a step further and argued that sticks – meaning sanctions – would have to come first in any carrot-and-stick approach to Iran.

Obama is, of course, absolutely correct that any successful approach to Iran must include a combination of incentives and disincentives. And sanctions can theoretically provide the United States with additional leverage over Iran. The problem with this line of thinking, however, is that it fails to recognise that existing sanctions already provide the United States with significant leverage.

But this leverage can only be utilised in the context of a negotiation. Sanctions can play a critical function in a US negotiation with Iran if, that is, Washington is willing to do away with them in return for significant Iranian behavioural change. That willingness has thus far not existed in Washington. The definition of leverage in the Bush administration was one’s ability to get something for nothing. That approach has clearly failed; it does not characterise negotiations, but rather ultimatums and threats. In negotiations, you can only get something by giving something. Indeed, it’s not the threat or imposition of new sanctions that will change Iranian behaviour, but rather the offer to lift existing sanctions. Herein lies America’s as yet untapped reservoir of leverage over Iran.

The crux, of course, is that this leverage only can be actualised if Washington and Tehran find their way to the negotiation table. And that is why the inclination to impose new sanctions prior to the commencement of talks can be so devastating to Obama’s agenda: imposing new sanctions on Iran – whether they be congressional sanctions or executive orders – will only reduce the prospects for diplomacy by poisoning the atmosphere and further increasing mistrust between the two capitals, which in turn defeats America’s ability to tap into its reservoir of leverage over Iran in the first place. The same is, of course, true for Iran: any effort by Tehran to intensify its efforts to undermine Washington’s policies in the region as a means to gain leverage prior to negotiations will only render such talks less likely.

To succeed with his pro-diplomacy agenda, Obama must not only avoid the fallacy that Washington doesn’t have leverage over Iran and recognise the value of offering to lift existing sanctions in return for Iranian policy changes. He must also resist the temptation to undermine the path to negotiations by imposing new sanctions before talks have begun – including resisting pressure from domestic constituencies whose motivation for sanctions historically has precisely been to prevent a US-Iranian diplomatic breakthrough to begin with.

The combination of incentives and disincentives that will succeed in advancing US interests vis-à-vis Iran is one in which diplomacy is at the centre and sanctions are in the periphery – not the other way around.

Trita Parsi is the author of Treacherous Alliance – The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran and the US and a silver medal recipient of the Council on Foreign Relations’ Arthur Ross Book Award. This article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) with permission from Bitterlemons.

Commentary

Previous Post

December 15, 2008

Holy Land Foundation: Perverse justice

Next Post

December 20, 2008 US Foreign Policy: What Obama can learn from the hajj

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 2012 Elections 30 Dayd 30 Writers (2017) 30 Days 30 Writers 30 Days 30 Writers (2015) 30 Days 30 Writers (2016) 30 Days 30 Writers (2018) 30 Days 30 Writers 2017 Ali Asadullah Ali Eteraz Alper Bilgili Arthur Richards Asides Asma Uddin Black History Month Briefings Charles Turner Commentary Cyrus McGoldrick Eman H Aly Fatimah Popal Hajj Hajj and Dhul Hijjah Hesham Hassaballa Hisham Hellyer Ibrahim Abusharif Inas Younis Irfan Yusuf Jalal Baig Junaid Afeef Laila Alawa Laila Alwala Mas'ood Cajee Muqtedar Khan Nakia Jackson Newsmakers Parvez Ahmed Podcasts Rabia Chaudry Rafia Zakaria Ramadan Reviews Safiyyah Ally Saud Inam Shahed Amanullah Svend White The Opinionated Oncologist Visions Wajahat Ali Zahed Amanullah Zahir Janmohamed Zainab Khan

Select a Month November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which harvest festival is also called the Feast of Booths?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Sukkot Hanukkah Passover Purim