Q&A with Henry Waxman: "Grand Bargain With Iran Was a Missed Opportunity"

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Q&A: "Grand Bargain With Iran Was a Missed Opportunity"
Interview with U.S. Representative Henry A. Waxman

Henry A. Waxman



WASHINGTON, Jun 17 (IPS) - Last week, the European Union offered Iran an incentives package to stop enriching uranium in order to initiate negotiations with the West. Mere days later, and before Tehran had responded, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced that the Europeans planned to freeze the assets of Iran's largest bank in a bid to discourage Tehran from developing "nuclear weapons".

Iran has since withdrawn around 75 billion dollars from European banks to prevent the assets from being blocked -- although it is unclear when they will actually be imposed, and several rounds of economic sanctions in the U.N. Security Council have been largely ineffectual.

With U.S. President George W. Bush leaving office in January 2009, many in Washington -- particularly Democrats with an eye on the White House -- believe a new approach is needed toward the Islamic Republic.

In an interview with IPS correspondent Omid Memarian, Henry A. Waxman, the influential chair of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in the U.S. House of Representatives, said that, "The next administration would need the full range of talks, sanctions, coalitions with the other countries, and the threat of war to resist Iran's nuclear ambitions."

He added, however, that a Democratic administration would pursue direct discussions and would try to reopen the possibility of "a grand bargain" regarding Iranian influence in the region that is acceptable to both sides.

more:http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42844