Analysis & Commentary - Benjamin Weinthal
Will New Oil Sanctions Be the Game-Changer in Iran?
On Monday, in a move that would have been unimaginable only weeks ago, the European Union outlawed Iranian oil imports. The 27 states of the European Union together import 660,000 barrels of crude from Iran each day, making them collectively the second largest importer of the Islamic Republic’s oil, after oil-starved China. more...
The United Kingdom Bans Iran’s Media Outlet
The Guardian reported on Friday that Press TV, the English-language news outlet operated by Iran’s clerical regime since 2007, was stripped of its license for violating broadcasting regulations. more...
Christians in Iran, Syria Face Rising Persecution
There has been a wave of violence targeting Iranian and Syrian Christians over the past month, say Christian news reports. In addition, Iranian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, who has been on death row since 2010 for seeking to register his home-based church, refused to renounce his Christian beliefs in exchange for his release from prison. more...
Can EU Oil Sanctions Create a Turning Point in Iran?
The significance of international sanctions on Iran took on new prominence this week, after a group of US senators sent a letter on Tuesday to Catherine Ashton, the EU's chief diplomat, urging the 27-member EU group to implement an oil embargo against Tehran. more...
How to Punish Iran’s Despots
In a few weeks’ time, the European Union’s foreign ministers will gather in Brussels to discuss a common response to Iran’s ongoing nuclear activities. To its credit, the EU reached a tentative agreement on Wednesday to impose an oil embargo on the Islamic Republic of Iran. more...
Syria Wages War Against Dissidents in Europe
While Bashar al-Assad’s regime continues to suppress and slaughter pro-reform Syrians at home, his security forces have intensified a campaign to intimidate and decimate any Syrian opposition in Europe. more...
Bloggers Drag US Think Tank Into Scandal
A group of bloggers affiliated with the Center for American Progress think tank has sparked sharp criticism because of an anti- Israel agenda that spilled over into modern anti-Semitism, according to NGOs in Israel and the US. more...
Punching Back Against Obama’s Israel Policy
Yesterday, the Emergency Committee for Israel — a group that has played a decisive role in the defeat of Democratic congressional candidates with checkered records of support for the Jewish state — called out President Obama for turning Israel into an international “punching bag.” more...
Europe Waives Diplomatic Sanctions Against Iran
Continental Europe's zig-zag course with sanctioned Iranian officials remains a counterproductive leftover vestige to the EU's nearly 30 year failed policy of dialogue with Tehran's clerical rulers. more...
Dismantling Iran’s Clerical Regime
Legislative devotion, including potent oil and bank sanctions, to stop Iran from creating a nuclear weapon device is largely exhibit A in US policy toward the jingoism of Tehran’s rulers. more...
US to Turn Non-Military Screws on Iran
The growing tendency toward targeting the Islamic Republic with powerful non-military sanctions moved beyond the idea stage on Thursday among Washington’s politicians and Iran experts. more...
Deutschland Darf Sanktionen Gegen Iran Nicht Bremsen
Die Europäische Union stolpert durch eine neue Diskussion über Sanktionen gegen den Iran; die Mitgliedsstaaten haben mit der miteinander in Konflikt stehenden jeweiligen Außenpolitik zu kämpfen, um das Bemühen des Iran zum Erwerb von Atomwaffen zu vereiteln. more...
The EU’s Fragmented Iran Policy
The European Union is stumbling through a new Iran sanctions discussion, as member states wrestle with conflicting policies to thwart Iran's quest to obtain nuclear weapons. more...
A GOP Debate Preview
As the U.S. heads toward the 2012 presidential elections, the country remains bogged down in a prolonged period of unemployment. Yet if Iran succeeds in its quest to obtain nuclear weapons, it will only compound America’s economic woes. more...
The Vienna-Tehran Connection
“In the first eight months of this year, Austrian firms supplied goods and services worth a total of 189 million euros to the Islamic Republic, more than, for example, to Israel, Thailand or Ireland,” the Vienna daily Die Presse reported recently. more...
EU Must Take Iran Action
For almost 10 years, the European Union has engaged Iran’s rulers in fruitless diplomatic efforts to halt their nuclear weapons program. Last week, the International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed that the Islamic Republic has conducted tests specific to building nuclear warheads. more...
Obama and the EU Could Stop Iran’s Nuclear Quest With Crippling Financial Sanctions
On Monday, November 14, only days after the United Nations' nuclear authority detailed Iran’s unlawful nuclear activities, a meeting of European foreign ministers came up short of sticks with which to change Tehran’s behavior. more...
How to Target the Islamic Republic Diplomatically
The International Atomic Energy Agency report released on Tuesday confirmed the West’s suspicions that the Islamic Republic is working on a nuclear weapons system. more...
How To Punish Iran
A U.N. report released Tuesday confirmed Western suspicions that Iran plans to build a nuclear weapon (PDF). In its report, the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency noted that “Iran has carried out activities relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device.” more...
Why Won’t Obama Sanction Iran’s Financial Lifeblood?
Details of this week’s International Atomic Energy Agency report have begun to leak, and they reveal new evidence that Iran is building a nuclear weapon. more...
