British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw is right on the mark with his assessment of Iran. In an important speech yesterday to the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, Mr. Straw said the West wants Tehran and the great Persian civilization back in the international fold, but "sadly Iran is going in the wrong direction," led by its provocative and confrontational President, Mahmud Ahmadinejad. Nowhere, said Mr. Straw, is the hard-line regime's belligerent approach more obvious, or potentially more harmful, than in the current impasse over the Islamic republic's controversial nuclear enrichment.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw is right on the mark with his assessment of Iran. In an important speech yesterday to the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, Mr. Straw said the West wants Tehran and the great Persian civilization back in the international fold, but "sadly Iran is going in the wrong direction," led by its provocative and confrontational President, Mahmud Ahmadinejad. Nowhere, said Mr. Straw, is the hard-line regime's belligerent approach more obvious, or potentially more harmful, than in the current impasse over the Islamic republic's controversial nuclear enrichment.
Mr. Straw's speech, called Iran: The Path Ahead, could not be more timely. This week, the United Nations Security Council is taking up the issue of Iran's steadfast refusal to bend to the International Atomic Energy Agency's demands that it suspend its alarming enrichment-related and reprocessing activity.
Fed up with a long series of lies, prevarications, threats, stalling tactics, belligerence and failed backroom efforts, the international community has finally got the issue where it belongs. The Security Council can and simply must reinforce the authority of the IAEA. Unfortunately, there is a long way to go before it acts decisively, mainly because the Russians and the Chinese, for their own national interests, are loath to up the ante in calling Tehran's bluff.
There are signs, though, that even Russia, which has been trying hard to work out a deal whereby Iran could enrich uranium for peaceful purposes on Russian territory, is getting frustrated. "We are very disappointed with the way Iran has been conducting itself in these negotiations, absolutely not helping those who want to provide for finding peaceful ways to resolve the whole situation surrounding the Iranian nuclear program," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said yesterday.
Now that the matter is before the Security Council, Mr. Straw offers four guiding principles on how to proceed. They make a lot of sense. The first step is to exert enough pressure so that Iran restores a full, verifiable suspension of all enrichment-related and reprocessing activity and co-operates with the IAEA.
The second is for the council to make incremental moves and not back Tehran so far into a corner that it cannot return to genuine negotiations. The third principle, which may be the most important, is to make sure the international consensus remains strong. Finally, the council's actions must be resolute enough to challenge any Iranian defiance.
While high-stakes diplomatic manoeuvres take place in the coming months, Mr. Straw said, the West must make a parallel play for the hearts and minds of the Iranian people, primarily the young. The message is two-pronged. First, the West is concerned not with nuclear power to produce electricity but only with a dictatorial regime acquiring a nuclear bomb. Second, it fully supports Iranians' aspirations for a freer, more democratic and prosperous future.
The latter is an important point not lost on many highly educated and broadminded Iranians who aren't happy with Mr. Ahmadinejad's backward leadership. They know only too well that the protracted impasse over their country's nuclear dossier is doing much damage to their economic prospects and to their reintegration into the international community. As Mr. Straw said, Iranians deserve better. For now, unfortunately, they're stuck with Mr. Ahmadinejad.
It's a long shot, but if the Iranian President comes to his senses and starts to comply with international law, he can keep the nuclear dispute from veering into dangerous territory. That would be a relief for everybody.
