ABSTRACT
Few contentious issues afflicting the Atlantic Alliance have arisen with such wearying predictability as the debate over the proper purposes and processes for imposing economic sanctions on external adversaries. The quest for proper consultative procedures for deciding how to impose, apply and end sanctions is likely to be immensely frustrating and ultimately futile. No matter how careful and well-understood the procedures, failures are almost guaranteed. The US and allied sanctions imposed against Iran from 1979 to 1981 have been judged by knowledgeable observers to have been highly effective means of securing release of the US hostages and affirming the sanctity of a fundamental aspect of international law. In the opinion of knowledgeable US scholars and authors, the Afghanistan grain embargo lives on as the clearest modern instance of failure in the effectiveness of economic sanctions. Those responsible are among United States' allies and friends who defied or subverted the US programme.
