Warmongering:
Diplomacy’s Over
For a brief moment last week it looked as though Europe’s tireless efforts to bribe Iran into giving up key parts of its nuclear program had finally come to an end. After the latest round of negotiations concluded in deadlock, Iran threatened to resume suspended fuel-cycle activities, prompting the Europeans to suggest they were ready to get tough. “…We certainly will support referral to the U.N. Security Council if Iran breaches its undertakings and obligations,” said Britain’s Tony Blair. Soon afterward, however, Iran conceded that it might postpone the resumption of uranium reprocessing, leaving an opening for yet another round of talks. A senior Iranian negotiator even told news sources over the weekend that Iran was close to an agreement with the Europeans that would allow them to continue some of the now-frozen activities.
Of course, were the Europeans genuinely concerned about preventing a nuclear Iran, they probably would have stopped this diplomatic game months ago — and they would certainly be calling it quits now. If the latest failure reveals anything, it is that the mullahs are dead set on maintaining the nuclear fuel cycle, and that no quantity of Western “carrots” will persuade them to relinquish it (remember that the United States also threw its weight behind the latest talks, promising among other things to remove its objection to Iran’s joining the World Trade Organization should Tehran submit to Europe’s entirely reasonable demands). Despite Tehran’s intractability — and despite mounting concerns about a secret military nuclear program in Iran — it appears the EU3 will continue to coddle the mullahs, effectively letting the clock run out until they have acquired their bomb. Europe may already be resigned to that eventuality.
This puts the Bush administration in a tough position. But while it would be nice to have European support for sending Iran to the Security Council, that’s unlikely to happen anytime soon, and it is foolish to wait any longer to try different approaches. Congress is considering legislation that would tighten existing U.S. sanctions, prevent U.S. subsidiaries from doing business in Iran, and reduce aid to countries whose businesses invest there. The threat of precision military strikes also remains on the table, as it should; the Pentagon recently announced that it plans to sell Israel 100 “bunker-buster” bombs, which can attack underground facilities such as those reportedly used by Iran. And of course there is Iran’s pro-democratic population, which may be the United States’ greatest weapon against the mullahs.
If there was any doubt before, there should be none now: Diplomacy with Iran has run its course, even if the EU3 are adamant about maintaining the charade.
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