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US Should Ease Sanctions Against Iran, Former Officials Say
The United States should relax sanctions against Iran and take steps to improve relations with the important Mideast country, wrote James Schlesinger, former US energy secretary and defense secretary under Jimmy Carter, and Lee H. Hamilton, former chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee from 1993 to 1995.
In an article published by The International Herald Tribune on Monday, Schlesinger and Hamilton pointed out that the current stalemate in American-Iranian relations does not serve overall American interests.
"The United States should relax its economic sanctions against Iran and take other steps to foster an improved relationship, without weakening efforts to advance Middle East peace and prevent terrorism and the proliferation of nuclear weapons," they said.
"The sanctions, driven by the desire to isolate and punish Iran, have scant international support," they added.
The two former politicians noted that while major nations are cultivating ties with Iran to jockey for influence in the Gulf area, the United States is being shut out of the competition by its own unilateral sanctions.
"A less confrontational approach to Iran would make it easier for the United States to develop more effective and timely policies in the Middle East, since America and Iran share some common interests -- for example, concern about Saddam Hussein in Iraq and the Taleban in Afghanistan," they said.
The sanctions also have cost American companies' opportunities to invest in Iran and develop its vast oil and gas resources, they said.
They described the current U.S. policy on Iran as "a strategic blunder" since it ignores the Iranian people's clear call for reform by "simply maintaining and renewing existing unilateral sanctions.
Earlier this month, Mohammed Khatami, the candidate identified with reform, won an overwhelming victory in Iran's presidential election. This "provides an opportunity for the United States to respond to the Iranian people's desire for change," Schlesinger and Hamilton wrote in the article.
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