The AP reports that the Obama administration has sent a secret message to Iran’s supreme leader, calling for direct talks over that country’s nuclear program and warning them not to close the Persian Gulf to commercial shipping — a report that the Obama administration will not elaborate on.
“We have consistently communicated our views and concerns on those issues to the Iranians and to the international community broadly. We have a number of ways to communicate our views to the Iranian government, and we have used those mechanisms regularly on a range of issues over the years. I’m not going to get into the details of those communications or mechanisms. But any message that we have delivered to the Iranian government would be the same as what we’ve said publicly,” National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said in an email.
“Of course, we also have a broader set of issues that we have communicated to the Iranian government. Since taking office, the President has made it clear that he is willing to engage constructively and seriously with Iran about its nuclear program, while also making it clear that Iran must live up to its international obligations. We remain committed to a diplomatic solution to this issue if Iran is willing to move in a different direction,” he said.
(Source: Politico)
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4 Responses
Given the closing an international waterway is universally accepted as an act of war, and given the economic impact of cutting of the oil shipments (causing serious shortages in East Asia, and significantly higher prices elsewhere), it is rather obvious to everyone that if Iran were to close the straights a war would ensue. It’s more in the class of bombing Pearl Harbor (which obviously was the start of war), rather than things that might start a war (shooting Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the German invasion of Poland, 9-11 which could have been treated as a criminal act rather than an act of war).
@akuperma It seems to me highly doubtfull that Obama would go into war even if Iran goes ahead with the threats.
#2
Never doubt obama, its an election year
#2- Everyone hates Iran. Liberals can’t stand them. Conservatives can’t stand them. Even most of the other Arabs don’t like them. Cutting the oil sales hurts primarily other Arabs. They are incredibly vulnerable and have no way to hit back at the US. Furthermore, once Iran cuts off the oil from the middle east, the US won’t be blamed for the higher prices in the US (and even more so in places that buy lots of middle eastern oil such as Asia).
Smooshing Iran would be a safe, cost efficient way to reassure his reelection.