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Source: Getty

In The Media

Dialing the Temperature Down with Tehran

Dialing down the rhetoric between Israel, Iran, and the United States is an important component in allowing coercive sanctions and diplomacy to run its course.

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By Karim Sadjadpour
Published on Mar 9, 2012
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The Middle East Program in Washington combines in-depth regional knowledge with incisive comparative analysis to provide deeply informed recommendations. With expertise in the Gulf, North Africa, Iran, and Israel/Palestine, we examine crosscutting themes of political, economic, and social change in both English and Arabic.

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Source: MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell Reports

Speaking on MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell Reports, Carnegie's Karim Sadjadpour explained that the rhetoric between Iran and Israel has consistently escalated over the course of the last several months. However, both President Obama and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei have recently made conciliatory statements that have worked to dial down the temperature. Sadjadpour suggested that Iran sees little incentive to be transparent because transparency would just expose Tehran's illicit activities. “For a diplomatic solution to work, Iran must not feel as though it will be penalizing itself for being transparent,” noted Sadjadpour. For coercive sanctions and diplomacy to work, Sadjadpour argued that bellicose rhetoric must be kept to a minimum. “Whenever Prime Minister Netanyahu makes a statement about going to war with Iran, it causes speculation in the world oil market and spikes the price of oil,” said Sadjadpour. This inevitability blunts the power of any sanctions regime and demonstrates the importance of circumspect rhetoric.

About the Author

Karim Sadjadpour

Senior Fellow, Middle East Program

Karim Sadjadpour is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where he focuses on Iran and U.S. foreign policy toward the Middle East.

    Recent Work

  • Q&A
    What’s Keeping the Iranian Regime in Power—for Now

      Aaron David Miller, Karim Sadjadpour, Robin Wright

  • Q&A
    How Washington and Tehran Are Assessing Their Next Steps

      Aaron David Miller, David Petraeus, Karim Sadjadpour

Karim Sadjadpour
Senior Fellow, Middle East Program
Karim Sadjadpour
Political ReformNuclear PolicyMiddle EastIran

Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.

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