Punishing Iran merely glosses over real issues for US - The National

As the US president noted: 'Recent developments in Iran have exacerbated the threat to the national security posed by imports of petroleum … I take steps immediately to eliminate the dependence of the United States on Iran as a source of crude oil.'

Later, the president noted: 'The government of Iran is actively supporting terrorism as an instrument of state policy … I hereby order that: no goods or services of Iranian origin may be imported into the United States.'

The calls for more action over Iran's nuclear programme are again growing louder. But sanctions have a long and ineffective history. The two orders above were made not by Barack Obama, but by Jimmy Carter in 1979 and Ronald Reagan in 1987.

* username: rupertbu