Obama and hawkish options toward Iran

by Steven J. Rosen  •  Jan 18, 2009 at 8:39 am

http://www.meforum.org/blog/obama-mideast-monitor/2009/01/obama-and-hawkish-options-toward-iran

David Sanger (N.Y. Times) quotes Obama aides on more hawkish options toward Iran, including a gasoline embargo and covert action...

"Denis McDonough, a longtime foreign policy aide ...contends that those who think Mr. Obama has drifted toward more hawkish views were not listening to what he said during the campaign about Iran or Pakistan or Hamas. One official who is widely reported to be headed for a senior position in the administration and would not talk on the record until his appointment was confirmed said: 'Everyone focused on his willingness to engage the Iranians in direct talks...But they don't listen to the part that says that if the Iranians don't come to the table, he's prepared to talk about cutting off their gasoline and squeezing them on sanctions.' ...[Obama's outreach to Iran] is bound to be complicated by the fact that Mr. Bush is handing off to his successor an expanded, covert effort to undermine the Iranian nuclear program, one of many secret programs that Mr. Obama has been briefed about recently and will soon have the opportunity to reauthorize, modify or terminate." The covert action program was described in an earlier Sanger article and in a piece last summer by Laura Rozen.

Related Topics:  Steven J. Rosen receive the latest by email: subscribe to the free mef mailing list This text may be reposted or forwarded so long as it is presented as an integral whole with complete information provided about its author, date, place of publication, and original URL.