U.S. sees hope in Iranian president-elect, but still cautious

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

U.S. sees hope in Iranian president-elect, but still cautious

By Warren Strobel and Matt Spetalnick
WASHINGTON | Fri Aug 2, 2013 3:20pm EDT

(Reuters) - The Obama administration is signaling its hopes for an easing of nuclear tensions after Iranian President-elect Hassan Rouhani takes office, but holding off on substantive moves until the moderate cleric shows a willingness to negotiate seriously.

Rouhani, a former nuclear negotiator and veteran of Iran's 1979 revolution who will be inaugurated on Sunday, has pledged domestic reforms and more international engagement, in an apparent break from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's policies.

In one sign that the United States sees a glimmer of hope in Rouhani's June 14 election victory, the White House this week declined to publicly back tough new sanctions on Iran approved by the U.S. House of Representatives.

U.S. officials say they still favor intense economic pressure to force Iran to halt what Washington and the European Union say is a nuclear arms program. But they argue for a pause in new measures to see if the Western-educated Rouhani may be interested in a nuclear deal.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/02/us-iran-usa-rouhani-idUSBRE97112U20130802

[William deB. Mills]

1. Fearing Peace, House Launches New Economic Warfare Attack on Iran

Unfortunately, the House--including the Democratic leadership--has just undercut Obama by bowing to Netanyahu (who desperately needs continued war fever to maintain his tenuous hold on power) and slapping Iran's new president-to-be in the face before he can even take office. The war party in the Congress and of course Israel seemed somewhat stunning by the rise in Iran of the "ugly" face of moderation, but the war party has now fully recovered and is working fervently to prevent any accommodation between the US and Iran. Ahmadinejad (and, from his grave, bin Laden) must both be giggling at the astonishingly incompetent foreign policy decision-making process that occurs in the highly factionalized and short-sighted circles along t Potomac.

Of course, another interpretation is at least theoretically possible: maybe Obama and Congress are playing "good cop, bad cop." Does anyone believe that???

[Lugal Zaggesi]

2. I hope Iran ends the nuclear weapons program it doesn't have

Remember what happened when Saddam Hussein refused to hand over the Weapons of Mass Destruction he didn't have?

That was bad.
This could get worse.