Right now, most of Congress seems to think that Iran needs to be punished and isolated. New Iran sanctions just went into effect, and more sanctions came out of the Senate Banking Committee on February 2.

 

Three decades of sanctions have not persuaded Iran to agree to full transparency of its nuclear program.  Continued pressure could have the effect of pushing Iranian leaders to demonstrate their power. As Princeton Professor Anne-Marie Slaughter argues, the current course of sanctions piled on sanctions "leaves Iran's government no alternative between publicly backing down, which it will not do, and escalating its provocations." This kind of escalation is a "dangerous game of…chicken" that could lead to violent conflict.