Trita Parsi of the National Iranian American Council is interviewed on Democracy Now about US sanctions on Iran and the prospect of talks about Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities.’
The blurb:
“The Obama administration is ratcheting up its economic war against Iran ahead of nuclear talks slated for Kazakhstan later this month. Last week, the White House announced a new expansion of sanctions that pressure countries buying Iran’s oil to withhold direct payments and instead force Iran to purchase their goods. The Treasury also widened the sanctions list to include Iranian state media. We’re joined by Trita Parsi, founder and president of the National Iranian American Council and author of the new book “A Single Roll of the Dice: Obama’s Diplomacy with Iran.” Back in the United States after testifying before the British Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee on Iran’s nuclear program, Parsi says: “In spite of [the sanctions], you’re not seeing the regime change its nuclear calculus. And I would say that that’s mainly because pressure alone will not work. There has to be negotiations in which something is put on the table that is viewed as strategically valuable by the other side. Only then will we be able to really say that diplomacy has been tested.”