The hardine Israeli ambassador, the one who has taken sides in the AIPAC-J-Street dust-up, wants "crippling sanctions" against the Iranian people if Israel is to be restrained from launching a fourth world war. AIPAC has the Congress already primed and ready to go. Oren is adamant that
"there isn't an Israeli view and an American view" on the Iranian question, but rather "one view."
But there are signs of intelligent life in the Obama administration:
The Obama administration is showing signs that its approach to sanctions might not be in line with the "crippling" measures that Israel is expecting. Instead, a more calibrated approach has been emerging in which the US would press for another UN Security Council resolution this month and look at targeted sanctions rather than at disrupting Iran's energy markets and other more broad-based moves.
In addition, the US has repeatedly stressed that the door to diplomatic engagement remains open, notwithstanding Obama's pledge to review the process at the end of the year.