Iranians, who usually have positive feelings towards the US, have grown increasingly disillusioned, according to a new opinion survey conducted by Terror Free Tomorrow: The Center for Public Opinion (TFT) and D3 Systems (D3).
The survey polls 1,001 Iranians in all 30 Iranian provinces. While the majority of Iranians polled back improved US-Iran relations, many are growing disillusioned with the US’s response to Iran’s nuclear program.
And this disillusionment has sent them straight into Ahmadinejad’s camp.
At a March 14 briefing at the New America Foundation (NAF), US foreign policy guru and Director of NAF’s Geopolitics of Energy Initiative, Flynt Leverett, argued that Iranians believe US-backed sanctions against Iran say more about the United States than they do about Iran, or about the Ahmadinejad government.
The Bush administration has failed to discriminate between the Iranian people and Iran’s government, and its support for hefty sanctions against Iran reflects this. In its executive summary, the TFT/ C3 survey reports that: “The last six months…has seen some movement towards retrenchment inside Iran, with a growing sense of less faith in what the United States and the world can offer for the future.”
Interestingly enough, a new BBC World Service Poll reports that Iranians are not the only people adverse to sanctions. According to the poll, support for “tough measures” against Iran’s nuclear program, including sanctions, has declined inside the United States and internationally.
US-backed measures against Iran, like the third round of UN sanctions, have had the opposite of their desired effect. Instead of upping pressure inside Iran to stop the country’s uranium enrichment, sanctions have encouraged Iranians to turn to their government in an unexpected sign of support for Iran’s nuclear program.
I guess the Bush administration will have to decide if its steadfast insistence on sanctions is worth this adverse affect.
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