According to Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, Iran is causing the US and the UN to toughen sanctions. She specifically stated that Iran has left us with “little choice but to apply further pressure.” The fact remains that while Iran has been immensely uncooperative, the nation has also continually threatened the United States. Clinton elaborated saying, “Iran’s approach leaves us with little choice than to work with our partners to apply greater pressure in the hopes that it will cause Iran to reconsider its rejection of diplomatic efforts.”
Amidst these comments Clinton was collaborating with London, France, Germany, and Italy about the nuclear crisis in Iran. The group which Clinton met with on Thursday, listed above, is not to be confused with the traditional five plus one group which consists of the US, Britain, France, Germany, China, and Russia. The five plus one group has been meeting for a few years now in the hopes of applying pressure to Iran in order to attain cooperation from Iran. Thus far the group has proved to accomplish virtually nothing and I am rapidly losing confidence in the possibility of success for such passive pressure. It has long been my opinion that Iran is playing hardball and that they need the US or the five plus one to step up and make some menacing and legitimate threats to attain cooperation. Implementation of economic sanctions is not going to deter a nation with such strong nuclear aspirations.
