Another scathing book by an administration insider on American policy toward Iran

 

Now, in addition to former Bush administration officials Flynt and Hillary Mann Leverett, add this one by former Obama administration official Vali Nasr, titled "The Dispensable Nation".

As the Moon of Alabama blog points out:

The Obama administration is simply not serious with negotiations. One of its former members, Vali Nasr, who is now dean of the John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, has a new book coming where he explicitly says so:

In Iran, Nasr demonstrates Obama’s deep ambivalence about any deal on the nuclear program. “Pressure,” he writes, “has become an end in itself.” The dual track of ever tougher sanctions combined with diplomatic outreach was “not even dual. It relied on one track, and that was pressure." The reality was that,“Engagement was a cover for a coercive campaign of sabotage, economic pressure and cyberwarfare.” 

Opportunities to begin real step-by-step diplomacy involving Iran giving up its low-enriched uranium in exchange for progressive sanctions relief were lost. What was Tehran to think when “the sum total of three major rounds of diplomatic negotiation was that America would give some bits and bobs of old aircraft in exchange for Iran’s nuclear program”?

In the past this writer has corresponded with Vali Nasr. I've found him to be highly approachable and sincere, even though I haven't agreed with him 100 percent of the time. But in Shirazi's observations of his writings, I concur. Look for a book review of Nasr's upcoming book review in a future post of Uskowi on Iran.  /mp