(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Most people in the United States think imposing financial penalties against Iran will prove ineffective in the long run, according to a poll by Rasmussen Reports. 60 per cent of respondents say stiff economic sanctions are not likely to force Iran to disband its nuclear program.

After being branded as part of an "axis of evil" by U.S. president George W. Bush in January 2002, Iran has contended that its nuclear program aims to produce energy, not weapons. In June 2005, former Tehran mayor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won Iran’s presidential election in a run-off over Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani with 61.6 per cent of all cast ballots.

In December 2006 and March 2007, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) imposed sanctions against Iran after it failed to stop uranium enrichment—a process needed both to make nuclear weapons and produce electricity.

On Oct. 25, Bush announced a new set of unilateral sanctions against Iran, which include the designations of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps as a "proliferator of weapons of mass destruction" and of the elite Quds Force as a "supporter of terrorism." The resolution has significant economic implications for Iran.

On Nov. 2, senior officials from Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the U.S. announced they are ready to impose new sanctions against Iran unless envoys are able to prove that the government is willing to cooperate with international demands. The six countries issued a statement, which read: "We will meet again on November 19 to assess reports from Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the United Nations atomic watchdog, and from European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana. (...) Political directors agreed to finalize a text for a third UN Security Council sanctions resolution with the intention of bringing it to a vote in the UN Security Council, unless the November reports of Dr. Solana and Dr. ElBaradei show a positive outcome of the efforts."

Original release from Rasmussen Reports

Polling Data

How likely is it that stiff economic sanctions against Iran will force Iran to disband their nuclear program?

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