Denis Devi, the former head of South Asia policy at the US State Department, told The Telegraph. “I have no faith that Iran would ever negotiate at the table and I don’t know what will happen.”
The new measures have led to warnings that a conflict was brewing on the northern border. They came amid a spike in Iranian sabre rattling and fears, backed up by the deployment of thousands of military personnel and tanks, of a potential proxy war erupting between Iran and Saudi Arabia by the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia.
The Israeli government has been pressing for tougher measures, but they have so far been rebuffed.
Meanwhile, US officials have described the latest efforts to isolate Tehran as “very successful”, particularly as it has shown that it will back down on some of the worst demands it made in the nuclear negotiations.
And on Sunday, the US secretary of state, John Kerry, went on the record saying the United States is ready to step back on sanctions against Iran to prevent a new arms embargo and the lifting of its oil embargo if it does not stop its nuclear programme.
“We are ready to step back, we are ready to walk away if things don’t change,” the secretary of state said in testimony before the Senate. He said he is confident Washington will be able to secure new nuclear limits that would be a prerequisite for a peaceful settlement.
Yet critics claim the US has been slow to act in light of its own diplomatic inexperience and their view that a nuclear settlement between Iran and the international community is not only possible but likely to come about in the next few months, and that President Obama himself might be inclined to soften the pressure.
“It’s time for the Obama administration to begin using the carrot or the stick and show some clarity of message to Iran,” said Ben Rhodes, adviser to the president on foreign policy, to the New York Times. “That could result in a more dramatic response if it is clear that they will not make good on the demands they have made. They are making demands that simply aren’t going anywhere,” he said.
Speaking in Brussels on Monday, the French foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, said there had been progress but also acknowledged it would take time for the situation to change. The US has until 12 October to reauthorise sanctions against Iran, which expire at the end of the year. The Iranians have pledged to lift the uranium stockpile cap.