Israel Matzav

And again: Obama fails to enforce sanctions

President Obama has failed to enforce sanctions against Iran that were passed by Congress at the end of December.

The legislation gave the administration 60 days to investigate private foreign financial institutions engaged in non-petroleum transactions with Iran’s powerful Central Bank. That is a run up to heavier sanctions on Iran’s lucrative oil business that take effect this summer.

The White House hopes that tough commitment to financial pressure will persuade Israel to back away from the possibility of launching a military strike on Iran, an approach the U.S. believes is shortsighted. Obama will make that case directly to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday when the two leaders meet at the White House.

Some in Washington expected Obama to strengthen his position ahead of the high-stakes meeting by announcing fresh economic penalties that went into effect Wednesday. The penalties were included in a law Obama signed on Dec. 31.

But the administration chose not to immediately take action, and officials disagreed about when they could. A Treasury official said the administration has been identifying financial institutions that may be involved with transactions that could be sanctioned so they would be prepared to act following the deadline.

A senior Senate aide involved in Iran sanctions said that by not announcing new penalties Wednesday, the administration had failed to comply with the law as it was intended.

Both officials requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

Read the whole thing.

Obama is too busy trying to stop Israel from attacking to Iran to actually do something about stopping Iran. And you wonder why Israelis don't trust him?

What could go wrong?

Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Iran sanctions regime

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:36 PM