Obama: Let's Hit Iran With Tougher Threats of Stronger Sanctions... But Don't Provoke Them
On Today Show this morning, Matt Bauer asked Obama if he were president this morning, what his immediate response would be to Iran's missile tests.
I think we've got to gather up all the intelligence necessary with the situation, but there's no doubt that we're seeing rising tensions in the area.
To echo Ed, intelligence-gathering? This isn't a rumor of missile tests. U.S. systems detected and tracked at least seven of the missiles. The regime announced it on state-run TV, and showed missiles flying into the air (although perhaps it was file footage).
And it's part of the reason why it's so important for us to have a coherent policy with respect to Iran. It has to combine much tougher threats of economic sanctions with direct diplomacy, opening up channels of communication so that we avoid provocation but we give strong incentives to the Iranians to change their behavior.
I would love to see Obama detail what Iran would have to do before he concluded that he did not want to seek "direct diplomacy" with them.
Lauer points out that at the G8 meeting in Japan, the leaders gathered their have announced a European official to Tehran to discuss an official "incentive package," to induce them for dismantling their uranium enrichment program and Obama says he sees that as a "step in the right direction," and does not see it as reward for bad behavior.
Also note that once again, Obama feels that we ultimately control Iranian behavior; it's simply a matter of offering sufficient incentives to change their behavior. In the interview, he also says, "it's in nobody's interest, including Iran's, I believe, to have a nuclear weapon that could trigger a nuclear arms race in the region."
It seems unthinkable to Obama that the Iranians could have actually determined that having a nuclear weapon is in their self-interest. Much like small town Pennsylvanians, he knows what motivates them better than they know themselves
