RL32048
Iran: U.S. Concerns and Policy Responses
August 19, 2005
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Summary
The Bush Administration has pursued several avenues to attempt to contain or end the potential threat posed by Iran, at times pursuing limited engagement directly or through allies, and at other times leaning toward pursuing efforts to change Iran's regime. Some believe a potential international crisis is looming over Iran's nuclear program because a U.S.-supported effort by three European nations to prevent an Iranian nuclear breakout is faltering. International concerns on nuclear issues have been heightened by the victory of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, an admitted hardliner, in Iran's presidential election on June 24, 2005. Some advocate military action against Iran's nuclear infrastructure, but others believe that continued diplomacy, combined with offers of economic rewards or threats of punishment, is the only viable option. Still others believe that only an outright replacement of Iran's regime would diminish the threat posed by Iran to U.S. interests. U.S. sanctions currently in effect ban or strictly limit U.S. trade, aid, and investment in Iran and penalize foreign firms that invest in Iran's energy sector, but unilateral U.S. sanctions do not appear to have materially slowed Iran's WMD programs or shaken the regime's grip on power. Other major U.S. concerns include Iran's policy in the Near East region, particularly Iran's material support to groups that use violence against the U.S.-led Middle East peace process, including Hizballah in Lebanon and the Palestinian groups Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Some senior Al Qaeda activists are in Iran as well, although Iran claims they are "in custody" and will be tried. Iran did not obstruct the U.S. effort to oust Iraq's Saddam Hussein, a longtime Tehran adversary, at least partly in the expectation that pro-Iranian Shiite Islamic factions would come to power in Iraq in the aftermath. That has largely occurred as a product of January 30, 2005 elections there. Iran's human rights practices and strict limits on democracy have been consistently criticized by official U.S. and U.N. reports, particularly for Iran's suppression of political dissidents and religious and ethnic minorities. Some fear that new limits on personal freedoms will be imposed by Ahmadinejad, who has consistently advocated a return to many of the original principles of the Islamic revolution as set down by the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. However, Iran does hold elections for some positions, including that of president, and some believe that changing Iran's human rights practices is not necessarily central to U.S. interests in Iran. For further information, see CRS Report RS21592, Iran's Nuclear Program: Recent Developments, CRS Report RS21548, Iran's Ballistic Missile Capabilities; and CRS Report RS20871, The Iran-Libya Sanctions Act. This report will be updated as warranted by developments.
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Related Legislation:
- S.2159
- S.2154
- S.2087
