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Squeeze Iran more, McCain says

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Times Staff Writer

Addressing a prominent pro-Israel lobbying group, John McCain called Monday for tougher sanctions against Iran, as that country’s controversial president issued another verbal broadside against the United States and Israel.

McCain, the presumed Republican presidential nominee, said new sanctions should restrict Tehran’s ability to import refined gasoline and should rein in operations of the Central Bank of Iran. The senator from Arizona called on European nations to impose new travel restrictions on Iranian leaders and to freeze their assets, and backed an international divestment campaign targeting companies that do business in Iran.

Speaking before the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, McCain offered one of the most detailed accounts to date of his Iran policy. He again attacked Sen. Barack Obama, the leading Democratic presidential contender, for willingness to meet with Iranian leaders.

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The question of whether the U.S. president should negotiate with the Iranian leadership has grown into a sharp dispute in the presidential contest.

A summit with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would, McCain said, yield only “anti-Semitic rants and a worldwide audience for a man who denies the Holocaust.”

“Such a spectacle would harm Iranian moderates and dissidents,” he added, “as the radicals and hard-liners strengthen their position and suddenly acquire the appearance of respectability.”

The Obama campaign shot back Monday. Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank), speaking on behalf of the Obama campaign, said that McCain’s Iran policy was going to be no different than that of President Bush.

“I think after looking at the last several years of complete disengagement, or an on-again, off-again focus on Iran, that a willingness to have some sort of direct engagement is a productive change in policy,” Schiff said in a conference call.

Obama will make his own speech to AIPAC’s annual conference on Wednesday. The Illinois senator is expected to outline his Middle East policy as well as voice support for Israel.

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Although a small part of the overall national electorate, Jewish voters represent an important bloc of potential swing voters in several battleground states, most notably Florida. Both McCain and Obama have signaled that they intend to compete for the backing of Jewish voters.

Within Israel, the perceived threat from Iran has been intensified by anti-Semitic comments by Ahmadinejad. The Iranian president lashed out again Monday.

Speaking on the 19th anniversary of the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Ahmadinejad said he believed Israel had “reached the end of its work and will soon disappear off the geographical scene.” He added that the “satanic power” of the United States had begun to erode.

Most Americans support Obama’s position that America should be open to talking with Iranian leaders. A Gallup poll released Monday showed that large majorities of Democrats and independents support having the president meet with leaders of countries considered enemies of the United States.

Asked specifically about Iran, 59% of Americans said it was a good idea for the U.S. president to meet with the Iranian president, according to the poll.

McCain compared the push to divest from Iran to the movement in the 1980s and 1990s to divest from South Africa, which he said helped end of apartheid.

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“In our day we must use that same power and moral conviction against the regime in Iran and help to safeguard the people of Israel and the peace of the world,” McCain said.

U.S. sanctions already seek to penalize several state-owned Iranian banks; targeting the Central Bank of Iran would represent a tighter squeeze.

Some foreign policy experts are skeptical that U.S. officials could persuade other countries to join the stepped-up sanctions McCain wants unless the U.S. was willing to negotiate with Iran.

“There is a possibility for a U.S.-led strategy, but it has to be a strategy that people think would work,” said Jon B. Alterman, director of the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank.

An aggressive push for strong sanctions would be blocked in the U.N. Security Council by Russia and China, Alterman said.

And without U.N. backing for new sanctions, Western allies that also are major trading partners of Iran, such as the United Arab Emirates, would resist taking part.

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julian.barnes@latimes.com

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