From the Special Report All-Star Panel
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
On the Iranian storming of the British embassy in Tehran and the suggestion that the American policy choice is whether to launch a military attack or not:
That’s not the issue at stake today. The issue at stake today is not a U.S. attack on Iran. It is: Will the U.S. sanction the central bank, which would essentially completely undermine the Iranian economy.
And it [the US] is not doing that.
Why was the British embassy attacked? Because the Brits had cut off all contact between the British banks and the Iranian banks. London is a financial center in the world and it’s going to hurt Iran. The U.S. is a larger financial center and it’s not willing to pull the trigger on sanctioning the [Iranian central] bank. That is what’s at stake.
The president issues this unbelievably embarrassing statement… he’s now beginning to see that “the Iranian government is not taking its international obligations seriously.” Really, now? This is a country that the State Department has said for a decade is the number one exporter of terrorism, a government that has defied every Security Council resolution on enriching uranium, and all of a sudden he discovers it’s not living up to its international obligations!
The Iranian regime is under a lot of pressure. The Syrian regime, its client, equally under pressure, had rioters attack Arab and Turkish embassies as a result — and this is exactly what Iran is doing.
It’s under attack. There are explosions all over Iran all the time. The IAEA has taken away all cover for its nuclear program. It’s at a point of maximum weakness, and what does America do? As it did in 2009 — issues meaningless statements instead of taking actions that it can and that it should.
On the suggestion that the US seek Chinese and Russian diplomatic support against Iran:
But that’s dreaming. The real world is — the Chinese and Russians are protecting Iran…We have a unilateral weapon available. And Obama is not using it.