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The Case for Stronger Sanctions on Iran
(Wall Street Journal) Mark Dubowitz and Reuel Marc Gerecht - The U.S. will likely never again have as much economic leverage over Tehran as it does right now. The efficacy of sanctions depends on the threat of escalation. The sanctions game with Iran has been as much psychological as legal. When the Obama administration sends a signal that it is willing to reduce economic sanctions for little in return, the general impression abroad is that the White House's resolve is waning. Reports out of Geneva indicate that the Obama administration was ready to unfreeze Iranian assets and ease sanctions on exports which would have brought tens of billions of dollars to the regime. Any concession on sanctions that releases hard currency to Tehran provides cash that it could spend on its nuclear program - or to aid the Assad regime or any of Iran's other unsavory friends. The Geneva negotiations indicate that Rouhani's bosses are willing only to make concessions that are easily revoked or not much of a nuclear impediment to start with. The U.S. and its allies seem much more likely to get the attention of the supreme leader and the Revolutionary Guards if the pain from sanctions is so intense that a choice has to be made between economic collapse and the nuclear program. Mark Dubowitz is the executive director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, where Reuel Marc Gerecht, a former Iran-targets officer in the CIA's clandestine service, is a senior fellow.