An Iran Policy, Please

The latest from the IAEA reports that Iran is quickly approaching the point where it will have sufficient nuclear material to construct an atomic bomb. The very same regime that has threatened to wipe Israel off the map, in other words, will imminently have the means to do so.

Remarkably, the only audible response to this by the United States and the international community is that of crickets chirping in an ominously quiet night. Heretofore these parties have tried the much-hyped tack of diplomacy, with European powers meeting with the Iranian regime since 2005 to try to negotiate some settlement that will stop the Islamic Republic's nuclear mobilization. It very clearly hasn't worked though, and representatives of the regime have recently indicated that they have no intention of pursuing or agreeing to any carrots and sticks package the incoming Obama Administration may propose.

As a result the West is mired in a state of self-induced paralysis. Our treasured notions of soft power and diplomacy have failed, a failure that is shared by everyone. Bowing to criticism of its alleged unilateralism and international bullying (apparently), the Bush Administration decided to let Britain, France, and Germany have a go at negotiations with the mullahs that were doomed to failure from the start. To add injury to futility, no meaningful economic sanctions have been enacted or even pursued by the UN Security Council, which might have actually worked. In essence we pursued a doomed policy with no backup strategy for when it inevitably failed.

Now we are at a crossroads. As the leader of the West and the free world, the United States must make a decision on the fundamental question that we have refused to discuss: is it acceptable for the Islamic Republic of Iran to have a nuclear capacity? Consideration and decision of this question will permit us to do something; either prepare for the management of a state of affairs redefined by Iranian nuclear capacity or prepare a new strategy for preventing that. If not answered almost immediately the question will soon be immaterial, for the regime will have that capacity. Once arrived at this point we will find ourselves in a situation we are unprepared for and unequipped to advantageously respond to.

We need a policy; almost any policy. Whatever it is, it will be better than our present state of paralysis and denial.