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As I read the news of Iran’s continuing intransigence on nuclear issues, I thought of a conversation with an Iranian engineer in the Shiraz airport this past April as we waited to board a plane to Bahrain. He would go on to Germany where he had lived for many years.
This conversation was one of several experiences while in Iran this past spring that came to mind as I read calls for “crippling” sanctions in response to the news in mid-September of Iran’s second and previously undisclosed nuclear enrichment site in Qom.
Sanctions against Iran have a long history. In 1995, President Bill Clinton prohibited all commercial and financial dealings with Iran. I felt the continuing consequence of this ban when I could not use credit or debit cards in my travel there.
A year later, Congress toughened the sanctions to penalize other countries that might invest in developing Iran’s capacity to refine or further develop its petroleum resources. As a result, the capacity of refineries in Iran is inadequate to meet their needs for gasoline which must be imported although the country is a major exporter of petroleum.
After the election of reformist President Mohammad Khatami, President Clinton eased, but did not eliminate, sanctions. In 2001, Congress passed and President George W. Bush signed a renewal of the sanctions bill despite the pleas of President Khatami. The fact that Khatami’s suspension of nuclear enrichment did not achieve an end to sanctions may have encouraged Ahmadinejad to pursue a more aggressive course when he was elected president in 2005.
Ahmadinejad immediately reversed the suspension of nuclear enrichment and, we now know, began construction of a second enrichment facility in the mountains near Qom. After this site was disclosed in September, the leaders of France, Great Britain and the U.S. stood together to announce severe sanctions if Iran does not back away from these steps which enable their development of nuclear weapons. Russia now seemed prepared to support sanctions, as they had not in the past. Chinese support remains a question.
I saw the first impact of sanctions in the Shiraz airport on the day I entered Iran. I waited several hours while a traveling companion pursued an eventually futile effort to enter Iran with an official U.S. passport. During this time I watched several flights arrive. Dubai seemed a favorite point of origin. As passengers lined up to go through passport control, each herded several wheeled trolleys piled higher than his head with boxes and bundles. Sanctions did not prevent individuals from importing goods for their use or possibly for sale.
As I traveled some 1000 miles across Iran, I was struck by the age and poor condition of most cars. Having just come from Bahrain, where new Mercedes and BMWs are common, cars that appeared to be twenty or more years old were a startling contrast. Particularly memorable is a taxi ride across Esfahan one evening. The car was ancient. Holes in the upholstery showed where the padding had escaped, the floor seemed precarious, and fumes from the engine made me grateful for our arrival at the chosen restaurant.
Although their effects were obvious, sanctions were not mentioned until I was in the departure lounge in Shiraz, waiting to board a plane to Bahrain. Departure was delayed for more than three hours and during this time I struck up a conversation with an Iranian engineer who told me that he left Iran many years earlier and was now a German citizen. His company makes brake systems for trains, and on this visit to Iran the engineer confirmed details on the contract to install brakes on the new train line to Shiraz. I told him that I had seen track construction a few days before as we drove from Yazd to Shiraz. Obviously proud of the accomplishments of his company, he told me that they installed the braking system for the Pittsburgh metro some years ago.
I asked if sanctions would create problems bringing in necessary parts and equipment. He admitted this was a consideration, but he thought they could work around it. He suggested that the German government would not be an obstacle to export of braking devices unless Iran’s relations with Europe worsened. “In that case, we may have to go through a company in China,” he said with a shrug.
Clearly American sanctions will be ineffective if other nations do not adhere to the same restriction. Increased sanctions on imported gasoline will hurt average citizens who are already struggling with a distressed economy.
In anger and frustration at the prospect of an Iranian nuclear weapon, some propose a military attack, but giving all Iranians a cause to rally around the flag and defend the homeland would eliminate the greatest vulnerability of the current Iranian government. Questions about Iran’s disputed presidential election in June and disillusionment following subsequent arrests, torture and show trials have opened-or widened-a credibility gap between the population and government. The best prospect for a saner government lies with the Iranian people. American interests are not served by sanctions that are not only ineffective but label us as enemies of ordinary Iranians.
Katherine Chaudhri taught science and history in Bahrain from 1976 to 1989 and has maintained an interest in the region since. She visited Bahrain and Iran in April, 2009, and her book, Crowded with Voices: Thirteen Years in the Middle East came out this fall. More information can be found on her website http://crowdedwithvoices.com