Foreign Policy In Focus

Iran Parliament plays to cheap seats by calling for Strait to be blocked in response to sanctions.

Moqawama, the official Hezbollah site (as linked to by Robert Johnson at Business Insider) recently featured a graphic on how Iran might retaliate for the sanctions imposed on it by the West. It depicts seven different missiles that could cripple an American aircraft carrier the Strait of Hormuz. Iran wouldn't do that, would it?

Maybe not anytime soon, but …

On July 21, Reuters reported that, while it has "little say in defense and foreign policy, where Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has the last word. … Just over half of Iran's parliament has backed a draft law to block the Strait of Hormuz, a lawmaker said on Friday, threatening to close the Gulf to oil tankers in retaliation against European sanctions on Iranian crude."

Still

… the law would lend political support to any decision to close the strait -- a threat that Iran's foreign minister recently played down. 

Today Reuters reports that Tehraan once again felt compelled to tone down the rhetoric.

Iran would not close the Strait of Hormuz as long as it is able to use the vital shipping line itself, a military commander was quoted as saying on Monday, moderating threats by politicians to block the waterway as retaliation for sanctions.

“The enemies constantly state that the Islamic Republic of Iran intends to close the Strait of Hormuz but we say that common sense does not dictate that Iran would close the Strait of Hormuz as long as it makes use of it,” said Alireza Tangsiri, deputy naval commander in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, state news agency IRNA reported.

Apparently Tehran is not that different from the United States where a bellicose Congress feels free to play to the cheap seats and call for war. It's left to the White House and Pentagon to act as the voice -- comparatively speaking -- of reason.

Cross-posted from the Project on Government Oversight.

If there’s one thing most Americans support in foreign policy, it’s sanctions against Iran to halt its alleged drive for nuclear weapons. From President Obama to Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, and Newt Gingrich, leading candidates all want to put the economic squeeze on Tehran and to signal their support for Israel. President Obama recently announced he will ratchet up sanctions on the country’s oil exports and declared a “national emergency” to deal with the Islamic Republic. The Senate will try to iron out its differences over anti-Iran measures in coming weeks, as bus stations around Washington, DC, are studded with advertisements questioning the President’s resolve on the issue.

In this politicized environment, the last thing any candidate or legislator would countenance is gobs of U.S. taxpayer money going to a military contractor caught doing business with the Islamic Republic. Indeed, Congress specifically addressed that possibility in 2010, when contractors were required to certify in writing that they have no ties to Iran’s sanctioned enterprises.

And that's why the current situation surrounding one big military contractor known as Kuwait and Gulf Link Transport Company, or KGL, seems so puzzling. Amid renewed allegations that the Kuwait-based behemoth is involved in dealings with Iranian shipping interests, ports, and front companies, KGL continues to hold up to $1 billion worth of contracts with America’s armed forces. No contractor to the U.S. military has ever been debarred for doing business with Iran, so KGL could emerge as a test case.

At the Pentagon, its number two official has repeatedly told skeptical Members of Congress that KGL is free of ties to Iran and has broken no law. Yet documents reviewed and interviews conducted by POGO show that the FBI and the Pentagon’s own Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) are apparently conducting a non-public probe of KGL that is at least a year old, taking evidence from former employees and others about alleged business dealings that could violate Iran sanctions laws.

The upshot is that instead of projecting a message of American resolve and clarity, the case of KGL seems to offer an ambiguous quagmire of mixed signals as key issues surrounding the company remain to be sorted out. Indeed, as the undisclosed federal probe of KGL drags on, the giant logistics provider continues to have access to U.S. military facilities and provide support for American troops in the tense Gulf theater.

To read in its entirety, visit the Project on Government Oversight.

Adam Zagorin is Project on Government Oversight's journalist in residence.