Uncampaign News

As tensions continue to escalate in the Persian Gulf, Republican presidential candidates have been launching verbal assaults at Iran as they compete for their party's U.S. presidential nomination.

The latest economic sanctions appear to be having a significant effect on the country's economy as well as the price of oil. Iran's military has vividly escalated its tone and issued warnings for the United States to be careful where it sends its aircraft carriers.

Tehran is threatening to disrupt naval traffic through the strategic Strait of Hormuz if Western governments impose sanctions on Iran's oil exports. Near the strait, a key transport route for Persian Gulf oil, Iran has recently conducted naval exercises.

Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney has expressed criticism of the Obama administration's policies on Iran. "He failed to put in place crippling sanctions. He failed to stand with the dissidents in Iran when they took to the streets. And he's failed to put in place credible plans, military options to prevent Iran from having a nuclear weapon," Romney said.

Tehran denies Western accusations that Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons under the cover of its civilian nuclear energy program.

Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum, who recently surprised analysts with his strong showing in Iowa, also believes the U.S. should be taking a stronger stance toward Iran. "And I would be saying to the Iranians: you either open up those facilities, you begin to dismantle them and make them available to inspectors or we will degrade those facilities through air strikes and make it very public that we are doing that," he said.

Despite the Republicans' tough rhetoric on Iran, analysts say their positions are not much different from current U.S. policy.

"So there's a lot of pounding the table and identifying the threat. There's very little discussion about what exactly will be done," said James Lindsay of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Not all of the Republican candidates favor military action against Iran.

Congressman Ron Paul has long been opposed to American military adventures overseas. "I think if we overreact and participate in bombing Iran, we're looking for a lot more trouble," said Paul.

Analysts say presidential candidates frequently use foreign policy issues to demonstrate strength by saying they are willing to use America's military might to accomplish goals overseas.

"Iran is an unknown and we don't know what their nuclear capacity is. We don't know what they are actually going to do and we don't know what the future will hold. So it provides a good opportunity for the Republican candidates to stake out hypothetical positions and try to convince voters," said Jennifer Lawless, who teaches politics at American University.

Still, some Iranian-Americans say the Republicans' sharp remarks are reckless.

"What bellicosity, what sabre rattling gets you is this self-fulfilling prophecy where we are talking about military options, we are talking about war," said Jamal Abdi, the policy director for the National Iranian American Council.

Abdi hopes American policy on Iran will turn away from tougher sanctions and toward negotiations, though he concedes that such a move is unlikely in an election year.