Washington’s Strange Silence on Iran
Washington’s Strange Silence on Iran – Commentary Magazine.
If you only got your news by following the statements put out by the Obama administration, you would currently be blithely unaware of the disturbing moves taken by Iran in recent days. That is because it would appear that the latest strategy of the Obama administration is to simply ignore those statements coming from the Iranians that they don’t wish to hear. Nuclear centrifuges can spin, ballistic missiles can be tested, bellicose speeches can be delivered by the Islamic Republic’s most senior figures–but if no one in the White House chooses to hear it, does it really make a sound?
In the lead-up to Tehran’s no doubt charming celebrations marking the 35th anniversary of the country’s violent Islamic revolution, the regime’s warlike moves have been going into overdrive. As part of the festivities Iranian state television has aired simulated footage of its military bombarding Israel’s cities and attacking an American aircraft carrier. Senior military figures have spoken of dispatching warships to the North Atlantic and of their ability to strike the U.S. military. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei has taunted America, expressing his amusement at the naivete of Americans for believing Iran would actually scale down its military. Indeed, they haven’t and Iran’s Defense Ministry has been celebrating the testing of new long-range ballistic missiles and laser guided surface-to-surface and air-to-surface missiles.
And while Obama may have used his State of the Union address to showcase his achievements in holding back the Iranian nuclear program, yesterday Iran’s nuclear experts announced the unveiling of a new generation of centrifuges 15 times more powerful than the ones they currently have. This will allow them to resume uranium enrichment at 60 percent, somewhat higher than the less than 5 percent permitted under the U.S. brokered interim agreement.
How many emergency statements has the administration made in the face of these threats? How many press conferences called regarding Iran’s moves to breach the interim agreement? Cue tumbleweed. With the exception of some quotes that CNN managed to extract from the Pentagon, in which officials noted they were monitoring the ballistic missile tests and denied that there was evidence warships had been sailed into the North Atlantic, we have heard nothing from the U.S. government. Seemingly these matters are of little concern to the administration. On the one hand perhaps this speaks of a certain fatigue among the press who have grown tired of pursuing this matter in State Department press briefings. Yet it is also noteworthy that the administration has offered no statements of its own on these developments.
Given that National Security Advisor Susan Rice has a tendency to take to Twitter to slam Israeli ministers for unkind words about Secretary Kerry, one would have thought that she would also have no qualms about treating the Iranians to some of the same. Yet apparently the testing of ballistic missiles, Iran’s head of state calling the U.S. government liars, or the threat to sail warships up to American waters is of little interest to anyone in Washington.
But then, it is probably hardly surprising that the Obama administration isn’t exactly eager to highlight the fact that its Iran policy lies in tatters. The administration is in no rush to draw attention to the matter of Iran’s new centrifuges and thus confirm that the interim agreement they staked everything on was in fact never fit for purpose in the first place. Perhaps they are hoping that if they don’t make too much fuss about any of this then no one will notice. Or is the strategy now simply to ignore the Iranians and eventually they’ll shut up and go away? They won’t, of course.
WarSclerotic 
February 11, 2014 at 11:09 PM
Actually i see NATO military doctrine at play here,its all about giving your enemy a long rope,then let them reach the end of it and the smash them so i wouldn’t worry too much>behind closed doors all this stuff is being taken very seriously,in fact whats going on at the moment is alarming to the point of worrying,it long ago stopped being iran versus Israel,were in uncharted waters every responsible party is proceeding with caution,we could seriously be seconds away from ww111,
February 11, 2014 at 11:15 PM
The escalation of rhetoric coming from Tehran could signal a coming attack not by Iran, but by those determined to stop it’s drive to go nuclear.
February 11, 2014 at 11:18 PM
As for Washington’s silence, there’s nothing unusual with the Obama administration’s lack of response. What’s troubling to me is the media’s black out of Iran’s rhetoric. But then again, this is not so unusual as well.
February 12, 2014 at 12:25 AM
I would say iran has had its final warning obama wouldn’t dare comment on it i would say were possibly in for a shock,it might not be in the middle east ether,I will admit it i am stumped info has gone dark,there is something very wierd going on,and bring Snowdon into it,its more or less certain that snowdon was a FSB asset for a long time recruited in India at the ethical hacking convention cant remember the date,he took 4 laptops with him<ask this why not a cases full of big SSDs,answer the laptops are dedicated pieces of hardware so what were they,All the things i could think they were are really bad, mean terrifying so you wonder,and iran certainly has access to whatever thy are and china and russia,I would be silent
February 12, 2014 at 3:48 PM
February 12, 2014 at 2:22 PM
Future historians will look back and see that Netanyahu’s bark was worse than his bite! They’ll also see that Armageddon was avoided. The price? The slow evaporation of the Jewish State of Israel, as it was slowly enveloped then absorbed into the Arab Middle East.
February 12, 2014 at 3:50 PM
Your a optimist the shits already hit the fan ,the middle east is a minor problem
February 12, 2014 at 4:04 PM
Justice, you’ve been crying wolf for a long time. It’s just not going to happen as you lay it out. Business rules,and those who are bad for business will be marginalized.
February 12, 2014 at 5:30 PM
You will eat your words i deal in facts not speculation and backward superstitious religious beliefs i got in a lot of trouble for leaking stuff on here your just in denial,Business is the cause of it not the reason its not going to happen,crying wolf if you cant see the truth you must be blind john,like is say ww111 is just round the corner israel is a minor player,this is big power stuff the usa Uk and russia china the others are insignificant cannon fodder no joke,Most people i work with think that you people are a lost cause and a waist of time and not worthy of help or support don’t convince me that seams to me john that you go trough your life with a blindfold on that only lets you see your preconceived proficiency’s,so talking to you is obviously a complete waist of time,the truth is the consensus is Israels history one way or the other and there are now big fish to fry and that’s what were concentrating on
February 12, 2014 at 5:37 PM
“like is say ww111 is just round the corner”
OK justice let me get some clarification from you, pin you down a bit. This would help us all to plan.
Define just around the corner if you’d please.
A. a matter of days.
B. a matter of weeks.
C. a matter of months.
D. a matter of years.
E. it’s time to increase your medication.
February 12, 2014 at 6:01 PM
Justice, how do we know what you say is a fact? I mean, what you say is entirely possible, but what clue can you give us to help us believe you.
February 12, 2014 at 6:30 PM
Justice is a relic of the Cold War,he see conspericy everywhere. He does not realize how differnt the 21 century will be. In the 21st Century old cold warriors will simply fade away.
February 12, 2014 at 7:44 PM
I suspect we will not get clarification from Justice on his call for WW III being just around the corner. We will not get it because he has nothing!!!!!!
February 12, 2014 at 10:58 PM
Your going to get nothing from me not a single iota,its not on you have no need to know anything you sever no purpose instead of reading some crazy religious zelots insane and irrational rantings start reading the world news at source not what you listen to on fox i have saild too much already,if you cant see whats going on then that’s your problem not mine want some intel pay me it costs services from a !0k a month(deskbound) 100k usd (in the field) payments in lightcoins or metal i dont give a fuck which no hard currency its too traceable anyone interested cash buys loyalty end of ,if you want to hire us a a private army prices start at 40 million usd for black ops otherwise forget it the days of free services are long over
February 13, 2014 at 1:00 AM
RIGHT!!! Option E it is.
February 13, 2014 at 3:56 AM
Justice I suggest you find some conspiratorial blog to latch onto. You’re just embarrassing yourself on this blog!
February 12, 2014 at 4:16 PM
JP, I think a better word for ‘optimist’ is ‘faith’. This is what most of us have and cling to in times of uncertainty. I, and many others, truly believe that good will prevail over evil and we will do whatever is necessary to make this so. If we are rescued by a Messiah, these so be it. Meanwhile, I and many others will continue to act as if our Creator and/or Messiah have better things to do for now leaving the heavy lifting to us, you, and other faithful souls in this world. May the Good Lord bless us all in this struggle.
February 13, 2014 at 12:58 AM
Right! Option E it is.
February 13, 2014 at 3:50 AM
Justice I suggest you find some conspiratorial blog to latch onto. You’re just embarrassing yourself on this blog!
February 13, 2014 at 4:19 PM
Justice, JP, Steve et al. Thank you for keeping this discussion more or less civil.
It’s possible to disagree, even strongly without losing one’s cool.
Keep it up, my friends. All of us appreciate all of your contributions.
Cheers!
JW