I am impressed with your account of the devastating impact of US financial and trading sanctions on the Iranian economy, and how it could, indeed, become a deadly convulsion. It raises a couple of questions: 1) Since the effects are so dramatically destructive, why have we waited so long to apply them? Can they not be as effective in Syria? Since they cost us nothing, wouldn’t early application be the best and quickest way to support the opposition? 2) Since any recourse we could take could only be enforced against U.S. owned companies or foreign firms dealing also with the U.S., could Iran not function, allbeit more expensively, with Russia, China, North Korea, Indonesia, etc.?
The Revolutioonary Guards’ Saeedi’s remarks certainly are remarkable. We can suppose that they did not get any circulation within Iran. They confirm just how close to the tipping point the Mullah’s regime must be. I am greatly surprised, in the light of your impassioned urging for support for the protesters, that you have serious doubts about what changes they might make. Also, the Ayatollahs near-panic brings to mind Hitler’s behavior when faced with defeat and probable demise: an effort to totally destroy his nation’s production facilities and infrastructure. A death spiral, most assuredly.
