Despite the US President Barack Obama earlier slogans to pursue a policy of engagement with Tehran, during his tenure, the US has orchestrated its harshest sanctions to date against Iran, Political Analyst Hossein Mousavian told Al-Monitor news website.
He said if the real objective of the sanctions was to compel Iran to cease its current nuclear energy program, they have not only failed, but have actually resulted in acceleration of the program.
“This is the outcome I predicted and have reiterated from the onset of imposing harsh sanctions. Due to their mentality, culture and religious beliefs, the Iranians have resisted coercion and have further expanded their nuclear energy program,” he added.
He said Iran’s nuclear progress, while under increasing sanctions, leaves no doubt that coercion has been a major factor in pushing the country toward proficiency and self-sufficiency.
“As reports by the International Atomic Energy Agency indicate, prior to sanctions related to its nuclear program, Iran had one uranium enrichment site, a pilot plant of 164 centrifuges enriching uranium at a level of 3.5%, one generation of centrifuges and an approximately 100 kg stockpile of enriched uranium. Today, it has two enrichment sites with roughly 12,000 centrifuges, can enrich uranium up to 20%, possesses a new generation of centrifuges and has amassed a stockpile of more than 8,000 kg of enriched uranium,” the analyst noted.
Mousavian also noted that the similar phenomenon emerged during the Iraq-Iran War.
He said before the conflict, Iran was incapable of producing a single bullet and wholly depended on the West for weapons, while during the war and its aftermath, and despite the sanctions and pressure imposed by the West, Iran built a large defense industry, achieved self-sufficiency in conventional weapons, accumulated a vast arsenal of long-range missiles and even launched a satellite.
He said through the sanctions policy, the US is, in practice, promoting the growth of Eastern influence in Iran, specifically that of its rival China.
He also pointed out that the US officials, knowing that sanctions hurt ordinary Iranians, are nonetheless essentially risking a great asset for normal relations by planting seeds of long-term alienation between the Iranian people and their country. Gallup polls indicate that “Iranians feel the bite of sanctions,” but they blame only the United States.
The analyst also stressed that it is now apparent that the United States has been unsuccessful in leveraging sanctions to elicit more cooperative policies from Tehran.
He concluded that the Western policies of sanctions have only resulted in the further radicalization of Iran which would unlock Iran’s “latent potential” and could help the country’s economy cut its dependence on crude sales, a policy now on the agenda of the Iranian administration.