US architect of Iran economic isolation warns sanctions could backfire

Former administration official predicts Washington’s favourite foreign policy tool will eventually be turned against the US

Julian Borger
Thursday 21 May 2015 | http://www.theguardian.com/world/julian-borger-global-security-blog/2015/may/21/us-architect-of-iran-economic-isolation-warns-sanctions-could-backfire?utm_source=AM+Nukes+Roundup&utm_campaign=eb1397296f-AM_Nukes_Roundup&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_547ee518ec-eb1397296f-391730569
Richard Nephew, a former senior US official who was instrumental in constructing the global sanctions wall around Iran, is now warning that Washington’s fondness for sanctions as a foreign policy tool could have serious repercussions for the US.
Nephew is now at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs where he has produced a paper on The Future of International Sanctions in a Global Economy. It argues that the US, as the world’s sole superpower, has been able to exploit an asymmetric advantage in imposing economic sanctions, but that advantage is fast eroding and it is time to rethink:

As with the use of cyber warfare and drone strikes, the United States may find in the future that, having created a precedent that targeted sanctions are an appropriate response for all circumstances determined by the United States unilaterally, it is facing similar measures against its own companies, banks, and citizens.

In other words, the US is in danger of becoming Frankenstein and sanction’s its monster. Nephew said in a phone interview: