Evan does a great job of deconstructing the nonsensical criticism proffered by Salam in his article on Iran.  His objective seems to be to attack Obama first, and let the facts come later.  

I'd like to generalize Evan's comments to discuss one of my favorite topics: the utter uselessness of sanctions.  

Although this is rarely acknowledged, sanctions usually become policy by default. They are an implicit admission that America has failed to affect the behavior of a foreign country through traditional means, but at the same time is not prepared to go to war over the issue.

Far from demonstrating strength, this is in many ways a sign of weakness. Full isolation, including removing your diplomatic mission form the country, also removes your eyes and ears on the ground. With no presence in Iran, that U.S has to rely on the British and French for information, in addition to whatever meager tidbits it is able to gather from its outposts in the Gulf.

Even worse, sanctions often bolster the relative strength of the ruling class.  Nasty, authoritarian rulers always rely heavily on patronage to stay in power.  Sanctions simply make these patronage networks more valuable.  

Oh, and did I mention that sanctions aren't even enforceable?  They just aren't, and never will be, and when people say that we just haven't used every avenue, they're full of bullshit.  Sanctions mean that there is money to be made through smuggling. And where there is money, there are buyers and sellers.  And this is without accounting for China and Russia (both of whom rushed to congratulate Ahmadinjad on his "victory").

I'll never forget a story from a few years ago.  After the State department learned that Kim Jong Il was using iPods and other American luxury goods to buy off loyalists, the U.S. decided to slap on tighter sanctions to block the flow of these luxury goods.  This, of course, only made Kim Jong Il's iPods more valuable to his fellow North Koreans. One of the Economist's blogs cleverly pointed out that bombing North Korea with iPods would have actually made a lot more sense.