France and America Clash over Iran

At the end of a long day of suspense, the Americans finally presented their “additional sanctions” against Iran in response to the recent report from the AIEA that suspects Tehran of endeavoring to acquire a nuclear weapon. Hillary Clinton had invited Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner to outline the new restrictions imposed on Tehran — e.g., prohibiting [businesses] from investing in the Iranian petrochemical sector and threatening sanctions for banks that still do transactions with Iran. That said, the United States is not going as far as it had originally imagined and formally banning every transaction with the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Consequently, Clinton and Geithner delivered a very interesting lesson on democracy: journalists who were attending this “briefing” for some hours did not have the right to pose the slightest question. As soon as their short speeches were finished, the two secretaries turned their backs to the reporters so as not to respond to a single question.

Fortunately, we have Nicolas Sarkozy from France, who had succeeded in making his dissonance heard on Monday. A few hours before the announcement of the American measures, the Elysée had announced that it had a letter sent to U.S., European, German, Canadian, Japanese and British leaders asking for stronger sanctions against Iran. Sarkozy proposed to “freeze the assets of the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran from the present time” and to “interrupt the purchase of Iranian oil.” These were two measures that the United States considered recently and finally dismissed for fear of a price jump in oil. This isn’t contradictory to what Americans do, we can assure you. They are going in the right direction but that’s not enough. What we’re saying is that the report from the AIEA changes the deal; we’re entering a new stage and must switch gears.

The French position has the merit of being logical: If the prospect of an Iranian bomb is so terrifying, why continue buying Iranian oil? Thus, Obama is accused by his Republican challengers of being too soft on Iran. He will be able to appreciate the tact of Nicolas Sarkozy, notifying him on the same day of the announcement of the new sanctions that the sanctions will not go very far.