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Under pressure from hawks, Obama tacks to the right
In the face of mounting pressure from hawks in Washington and the continued threat of military action from Israel, the Obama administration has been taking a harder line in its latest pronouncements about Iran.
Recent media reports have suggested that the administration is leaning toward an end-of-September deadline for Tehran to respond to U.S. diplomatic outreach concerning its nuclear program, at which point it will consider stepping up sanctions against the Iranian energy sector.
This course would cut against the advice of a growing number of Iran analysts, who have cautioned both that the Tehran regime is in no position to negotiate at the moment and that sanctions are likely only to solidify the power of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
But the administration is facing a great deal of pressure to move quickly to sanctions from congressional hawks - backed by hardline organizations within the so-called "Israel lobby" - who have been pushing for a tougher line against Tehran since well before the Jun. 12 elections that triggered Iran's current political crisis.
While it remains too early to tell whether the Obama administration intends to follow through on threats of sanctions before the end of the year, recent statements by administration officials have sounded increasingly impatient with the rate of diplomatic progress.