ACCORDING TO a recent story in The Post, the Obama administration is “quietly toasting”
the success of international sanctions against Iran. The Islamic
republic is having increasing difficulty arranging imports, including
food, and the central bank is reportedly short of hard currency.
Billions of dollars in foreign investment projects have been canceled,
and few banks, insurance companies or shipping firms are willing to do
business with Tehran.
There are also signs of political stress. President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad is bitterly at odds with conservative clergy and a majority
of parliament and appears to have lost the support of Supreme Leader
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iran’s closest ally, the Syrian regime of Bashar
al-Assad, is slowly but steadily losing ground to a popular uprising,
raising the prospect that Iran’s once-firm foothold in the Arab Middle
East will be reduced to an isolated Hezbollah militia in Lebanon.
We
don’t begrudge the White House a toast or two over these developments;
the administration has worked hard and relatively effectivel… >>>
