The "sanctions only hurt the people" or "an embargo is an act of war" arguments always get me. If you have a neighbor who is selling you things and then using the money to build a cannon to shoot you with, and you stop buying things from him, how is that an act of aggression?
The European nations are sovereign states who can decide who they want to do business with. If they don't agree with the stance of the seller, then it's their right to boycott said seller. It's the same as if you didn't want to buy from Wal-mart because they destroy small business or you don't buy from GoDaddy because they support SOPA. The only difference is this is on the scale of nations.
Iran acting like they have the right to shut down an international waterway because Europe won't buy oil from them is like McDonald's saying they have the right to starve me to death because I don't want to eat their hamburgers.
Unfortunately, the Iranian people are irrelevant here, as the oil money is being used to directly fund Iran's bomb program (which exists, to believe otherwise is dangerously naive). Europe and the US have to look out for their own, and it makes no sense to be paying for the noose that hangs you (or in this case the nuke that melts you).
The only other options here are war now, or let Iran get a bomb, then war later. If Iran develops a bomb, the Saudis most definitely will.
|