Yellen's Acknowledgment of Sanctions Failure

Naturally, the administration’s answer to this is to do more of the same while expecting a different result.

The Treasury Secretary basically just acknowledged this week that Iran sanctions don’t work:

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Thursday the United States was looking at ways to strengthen its sanctions against Iran, but acknowledged the sanctions had not resulted in the behavioral or policy changes Washington desires from Tehran.

"Our sanctions on Iran have created real economic crisis in the country, and Iran is greatly suffering economically because of the sanctions ... Has that forced a change in behavior? The answer is much less than we would ideally like," Yellen told lawmakers in a hearing on Thursday.

Yellen says sanctions have forced a change in behavior “much less than we would ideally like,” but the truth is that they have completely failed to force a change in behavior in the way that Washington would like. In fact, Iran sanctions have not only failed to deliver the kinds of changes that Washington wants, but they have also provoked more of the behavior that Washington says it doesn’t want. On the sanctions advocates’ own terms, the policy has achieved nothing and actually made things worse than they were before. Naturally, the administration’s answer to this is to do more of the same while expecting a different result.