COSTES EN VIDAS, EN INFRASTRUCTURAS, EN NEGOCIOS Y EN INVERSIONES EXTRANJERAS

Top of the Agenda: Obama Ratchets up Pressure on Iran

At a press conference yesterday, President Barack Obama promised to push for the "toughest sanctions" against Iran, adding that U.S. intelligence had strong evidence of Tehran's involvement in an alleged plot to kill the Saudi ambassador to the United States (NYT). Officials at the U.S. State Department said they have been in direct contact with the Iranian government, but offered no details on the discussions.

Obama sought to dispel some of the skepticism surrounding the alleged plot and vowed to press the international community to further isolate the Iranian regime (al-Jazeera). While Saudi Arabia has yet to respond, Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, accused the West of trying to propagate "Iranophobia."

Much of the public doubt surrounds the main suspect of the case, Iranian-born used car salesman Manssor Arbabsiar, who critics suggest would be an unlikely proxy for the Quds Force, an elite unit of the Iranian military (Guardian).

The White House has not released details of any proposed U.S. sanctions, but officials from the Treasury Department have indicated the administration was considering intensifying sanctions on the Central Bank of Iran (FT). "Further U.S. action against the CBI, if it attained multilateral support," said undersecretary David Cohen, "could further isolate the CBI, with a potentially powerful impact on Iran."

Analysis

It seems unlikely that the plot to kill a Saudi ambassador involved the highest levels of Iran's government, says expert Kenneth Katzman in this CFR interview, particularly the plan to use non-Muslim proxies to carry it out.

In this analysis for the National Review Online, Ken Allard discusses why critics should not be "shocked" by theelaborate elements of the assassination plot on the Saudi ambassador.

Iran's ambitions as a regional power and its links to suspected terrorist groups pose stiff challenges to its neighbors and the world, explain this CFR Crisis Guide.

MIDDLE EAST

UN: Syrian Death Toll Hits 3,000

The death toll stemming from the unrest in Syria has reached three thousand, according to the UN Commissioner for Human Rights. A European-drafted UN resolution against the Assad regime (BBC) was vetoed this month by China and Russia.

In this op-ed for the National, CFR's Micah Zenko discusses why mismanagement and overreach in the international intervention in Libya have essentially doomed a similar plan for Syria.

Egypt: A report released by the Geopolicity group (PDF) says the popular protests across the Mideast and North Africa known as the "Arab Spring" may have cost the region over $50 billion. Egypt, Syria, and Libya have incurred the greatest losses, including infrastructure damage and losses to business and foreign direct investment.