No, Sanctions Didn't Force Iran to Make a Deal
BY Trita Parsi
MAY 14, 2014
In what is perhaps the central myth of the Cold War, President John F. Kennedy is said to have stared down Nikita Khrushchev during the Cuban Missile Crisis and refused to give an inch, forcing the Soviet premier to capitulate to his steely will and America's superior military might. As Leslie Gelb, president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations, put it in Foreign Policy, "Mythologically, Khrushchev gave everything, and Kennedy gave nothing." This false standard, according to Gelb, became the gold standard for American statecraft going forward: Never compromise, just stare down your enemies and force them to capitulate.
In reality, of course, Kennedy did compromise. Only by quietly withdrawing its Jupiter missiles from Turkey did the United States avoid a nuclear confrontation with the Soviet Union. But for several decades, the Kennedy administration managed to keep this essential part of the story a secret. By the time the compromise was revealed 16 years later, in a book by historian Arthur Schlesinger, the myth had grown so strong that the truth could not unseat it.
Today, another, equally destructive myth is being forged.
That myth -- promoted by officials in President Barack Obama's administration as well as powerful lawmakers like Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) -- is that crippling sanctions brought the Iranian regime to its knees, forcing it to rush to the negotiating table to beg for mercy. In this narrative, the breakthrough in nuclear talks is credited to the Obama administration's unprecedented economic pressure, which has essentially locked Iran out of the international financial system. And like JFK before him, Obama did not compromise with Iran. The mythical gold standard was met.
Except it wasn't.
Read More: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/05/14/sanctions_did_not_force_iran_to_make_a_deal_nuclear_enrichment
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