If You Factor Out 30 Years of Failure, Unilateral Iran Sanctions Work Great
Laura Rozen has a good post on some Harvard war games about new unilateral sanctions on Iran ultimately proving counterproductive to getting the Iranian regime
Jul 31, 202026.5K Shares1M Views
Laura Rozen has a good poston some Harvard war games about new unilateral sanctions on Iran ultimately proving counterproductive to getting the Iranian regime to accept greater transparency on its nuclear program. You would think the war game would stop after someone said, “We’ve had unilateral economic sanctions on Iran for 30 years and it’s had absolutely no benefit for U.S. interests” and then everyone could break for lunch. But apparently not.
Still, the message of this war game seems to be to discourage the sorts of sanctions packages moving through Congressin favor of the Obama administration’s planned *multilateral *sanctions. Gary Sick, a Columbia professor and longtime Iran scholar, participated in the war game and said that the path to those multilateral sanctions is fraught with peril:
“„The US team went to work with a vengeance to get a consensus on sanctions. This didn’t bother the Iran team in the least. We didn’t think they could put together a package that would hurt us in any serious way, and that proved to be true. But more important, in the process they managed to offend all of their ostensible allies and wasted so much time and effort that Iran was better off at the end than they had been at the beginning. Since this represents a version of actual US strategy (and its results) over now three administrations, I think there is a lesson there that is ignored at our peril.
Dexter Cooke
Reviewer
Dexter Cooke is an economist, marketing strategist, and orthopedic surgeon with over 20 years of experience crafting compelling narratives that resonate worldwide.
He holds a Journalism degree from Columbia University, an Economics background from Yale University, and a medical degree with a postdoctoral fellowship in orthopedic medicine from the Medical University of South Carolina.
Dexter’s insights into media, economics, and marketing shine through his prolific contributions to respected publications and advisory roles for influential organizations.
As an orthopedic surgeon specializing in minimally invasive knee replacement surgery and laparoscopic procedures, Dexter prioritizes patient care above all.
Outside his professional pursuits, Dexter enjoys collecting vintage watches, studying ancient civilizations, learning about astronomy, and participating in charity runs.
Latest Articles
Popular Articles