A panel that includes former U.S. officials and diplomats urged the Obama administration to intensify efforts to engage with Iran through diplomacy.
The Iran Project report said in its executive summary that an emphasis on pressure instead of diplomacy likely hindered the resolution of tensions over Iran’s suspected nuclear weapons program.
“U.S. policies may have narrowed the options of dealing with Iran by hardening the regime’s resistance to pressure; contributed to an increase in repression and corruption within Iran; distorted trade patterns and encouraged the expansion of illegal markets in the region; and possibly contributed to sectarian tensions in the region by pushing an isolated Iran further toward dependence on its Shia allies,” the report said.
“Sanctions-related hardships may be sowing the seeds of long-term alienation between the Iranian people and the United States.”
The tough criticism in the report was significant because a number of the signatories have held positions in the Obama administration, including Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan from 2009 to 2011, and Anne-Marie Slaughter, director of policy planning at the State Department during the same period.
Other signatories are veterans of previous Democratic and Republican administrations and have been foreign policy leaders of both parties in Congress. — jta