Starting a War

       The reason I ask the question about the wisdom of embargoes is because I don't see anyone else asking the question.

            Now I think I know the logic, like an embargo will induce the intended to comply with my demands, usually my country's demands. Now whether the "intended" is either the population, or the government's leaders, is something I  cannot get a satisfactory answer on. And some of Iran's leaders are pretty poor leaders, I think.

            Even the USA embargoed oil from going to Japan before WWII began, and the result was Japan starting a regional war to gain oil from the Dutch East Indies. They did not get out of China, for example. And they did need oil.

            The main reason I ask for a shred of evidence that the present embargoes on Iran by many countries will do the deed is because one obvious alternative is that Iran instead may start a regional war to better survive, vice comply with the embargo's demands.

            So where is the shred of evidence that embargoes work without starting a war? Now I know we do it, and the academic logic makes sense, but the practical effects are what I question. After all, as in the case of Iran, the embargoes are apparently causing great distress to the people, but what is the leadership going to do?

            Anyway, I wonder? Maybe you do, too.