"According to a new Web site tracking trade with and investment in Iran (
www.aei.org/IranInteractive), global investment in Iran rose from about $5 billion in mid-2006 to over $45b. in the first few months of this year. Most of this sharp increase in investments came from Europe and bout 70 percent of the investments in Iran have been made in the oil sector, the main source of cash for the regime.
In this context, it is not surprising that Iran does not take the West's sanctions too seriously, certainly not seriously enough to abandon its nuclear program. For Western policy to work, Iran must understand two things: both that sanctions will be drastically tightened and that there is a meaningful threat of military action if sanctions are not effective. Cheney's speech notwithstanding, military threats are unlikely to be credible unless the sanctions piece is being seriously pursued not just by the US, but by Europe as well."
Topic: IRAN - needs to be shut down... (Read 2225 times)