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ORIGINAL: TheHeretic
Like say, a global warming treaty?

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ORIGINAL: deathtothepixies

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ORIGINAL: DomKen

The sanctions are hurting the wealthy and the government.

What?

Of course sanctions are well known to only effect the wealthy....

Humanitarian impact[edit]

See also: Healthcare in Iran and Agriculture in Iran

Pharmaceuticals and medical equipments do not fall under international sanctions but the country is facing shortages of drugs for the treatment of 30 illnesses including cancer, heart and breathing problems, thalassemia and multiple sclerosis (MS) because Iran is not allowed to use the international payment systems.[84][85] A teenage boy died from hemophilia due to a shortage of medicine caused by the sanctions on Iran.[86] Delivery of some agricultural products to Iran have also been affected for the same set of reasons.[87]

In 2013, The Guardian reported that some 85,000 cancer patients require chemotherapy and radiotherapy which are now scarce. Iranians with serious illnesses have been put at imminent risk by the unintended consequences of international sanctions, which have led to dire shortages of life-saving medicines such as chemotherapy drugs for cancer and bloodclotting agents for haemophiliacs. Western governments have built waivers into the sanctions regime to ensure that essential medicines get through, but those waivers are not functioning, as they conflict with blanket restrictions on banking, as well as bans on "dual-use" chemicals which might have a military application. In addition, there are 40,000 haemophiliacs who can't get anti-clotting medicines. Operations on haemophiliacs have been virtually suspended because of the risks created by the shortages. An estimated 23,000 Iranians with HIV/AIDS have had their access to the drugs they need to keep them alive severely restricted. The society representing the 8,000 Iranians suffering from thalassaemia, an inherited blood disorder, has said its members are beginning to die because of a lack of an essential drug, deferoxamine, used to control the iron content in the blood. To make matters worse, Iran can no longer buy medical equipment such as autoclaves (sterilising machines), essential for the production of many drugs because some of the biggest western pharmaceutical companies refuse to have anything to do with Iran.[88]

In recent reports, the development of a medicinal black market has come to the forefront of international news, a desperate population resorting to any means to obtain, at times life saving, medications.[89] Though vital medicines are not affected by sanctions directly, the amount of hard currency being made available to the Minister of Health is what's causing a huge backlash on the amount of vital medicines being made available to the public. Iran's first female Minister Marziyeh Vahid Dastjerdi (since the Iranian Revolution) was dismissed in December for speaking out against the lack of support from the government in times of economic hardship.[90] Furthermore, Iranian patients are at risk of amplified side effects and reduced effectiveness because Iran is forced to import more medicines, and chemical building blocks for other medicines, from India and China, thereby replacing the higher quality products from Western manufacturers. Imports from American and European drug makers were down by an estimated 30 percent in 2012 and falling. Given the nature of patents in the world of pharmaceuticals, substitutions for advanced medicines is often unattainable, particularly when it comes to diseases such as cancer and multiple sclerosis.[91]



Sanctions always affect the poor, the rich and well connected look after themselves, always have , always will.

Your (clipped) comment is naïve and disingenuous, and you should know better

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ORIGINAL: TheHeretic

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ORIGINAL: vincentML

Additionally, one has to wonder how Americans would react if a group of nations demanded we cease building some part of our infrastructure and imposed financial and trade sanctions on us that caused us spiraling inflation. We would be freakin outraged and defiant I think!

Like say, a global warming treaty?

Maybe Tehran will get that big earthquake they say is coming, and give them something else to focus on for a while, but with or without talking, I think they are going to have their bomb soon enough.

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We might be able to delay Iranian nuclear development, but I don't think we can stop it in the long run.

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At this point, we don't trust them, and they don't trust us. Negotiations might seem like an exercise in futility, but we don't have many practical options right now. We're not in as strong a position as we once were in the world, so we may need to play it closer to the vest for a while.

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ORIGINAL: cloudboy
...GWB gave his "Axis of evil" speech and blew up the whole relationship.

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ORIGINAL: vincentML

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At this point, we don't trust them, and they don't trust us. Negotiations might seem like an exercise in futility, but we don't have many practical options right now. We're not in as strong a position as we once were in the world, so we may need to play it closer to the vest for a while.

Why should they trust us? We overthrew their democratic government and imposed a Shah and his terror police.

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Additionally, one has to wonder how Americans would react if a group of nations demanded we cease building some part of our infrastructure and imposed financial and trade sanctions on us that caused us spiraling inflation. We would be freakin outraged and defiant I think!

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ORIGINAL: tweakabelle
Western and particularly American interventions in Iran don't have a successful track record do they? Why should any one believe it's going to be any different this time around?

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ORIGINAL: cloudboy
One interesting fact that's come to light is how IRAN was set to help the US go to war against the Taliban in Afghanistan. Iranian sources were providing intelligence, maps, and other information when suddenly, out of the blue, GWB gave his "Axis of evil" speech and blew up the whole relationship.

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ORIGINAL: tweakabelle
Western and particularly American interventions in Iran don't have a successful track record do they?
Why should any one believe it's going to be any different this time around?

• A Conservative interpretation of the US Constitution
  
• Personal Responsibility
  
• Help for the truly needy
  
• Limited Government
  
• Consumption Tax (non-profit charities and food exempt)
  

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ORIGINAL: truckinslave

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I think they are playing the West, and we are all going to wake up one morning in the next year to the news that they have successfully tested a bomb.

I think we are all going to wake up one morning in the next year to the news that they have successfully tested a bomb in Israel.

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ORIGINAL: tweakabelle

Western and particularly American interventions in Iran don't have a successful track record do they?

Why should any one believe it's going to be any different this time around?

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ORIGINAL: Moonhead

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ORIGINAL: truckinslave

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I think they are playing the West, and we are all going to wake up one morning in the next year to the news that they have successfully tested a bomb.

I think we are all going to wake up one morning in the next year to the news that they have successfully tested a bomb in Israel.

There's only one nation in history that has ever carried out a nuclear attack on a foreign state, and that wasn't Iran.

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There's only one nation in history that has ever carried out a nuclear attack on a foreign state, and that wasn't Iran.

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ORIGINAL: Moonhead

Pointing out that Iran have less of a past form for nuclear attacks than the country most of those bleating that Iran shouldn't be allowed to run a nuclear programme come from isn't relevant?