Iran Will Use U.N. Sanctions To Seek To Expand Its Sphere of Influence

UNITED NATIONS – Iran is hoping to turn the sanctions resolution that the Security Council approved today into the next platform on which it is building its ever widening sphere of international influence.One of the Islamic republic’s first objectives on its way to becoming a regional power and a world leader is to create the impression that Iran and America are playing on a leveled field. If the impression sticks, the world will increasingly see two sides to every issue: in the blue corner, America; in the red corner, Iran. Let the games begin.And if boxing metaphors are not your cup of tea, here is one from the field of soccer: “I’ve never seen this chamber so crowded,” the Iranian ambassador here, Mohammad Khazaee, said as he eyed the members of the Security Council with some amusement today after they had just voted to impose sanctions on his country. “This reminds me [of] the football game between the United States and Iran, at the World Cup in 1998, that the whole world was watching,” he said.If America and Iran are like two teams playing on the world stage according to the same set of international rules, each having the same number of players, the same allotted time, the same right to appeal a wrong call to the referee, then Iran has the same odds of winning as America. When a game like soccer is the most popular spectators sport in Iran, its winning chances are even better.And that is why Mr. Khazaee’s chose the metaphor: the score in that 1998 World Cup match was 2-1 for Iran.That is the corner that President Obama has painted America into. At first glance, Mr. Obama’s pressure on Iran is a direct continuation of the policies of the Bush administration, which has also relied mostly on Security Council resolutions that gradually increased pressure as Iran remained intransigent. The major difference is that Mr. Bush never signed on to a “dual track” approach.During the Bush years, an undivided Security Council voted three times, since December 2006, to sanction Iran. The justification for the punitive measures was that Iran declined to obey an earlier resolution passed in June of that year, which had demanded that “Iran shall not begin construction on any new uranium-enrichment” facility.Since then, several European countries tried to promote a compromise and negotiate with the mullahs over diplomatic solutions to the growing impasse over their refusal to accept the council’s diktat. But the Bush administration insisted that no negotiations would take place before Tehran completely ceases all enrichment activity, as the council demanded.But soon after saying on the campaign trail that he would “engage” the Islamic Republic’s leadership in negotiations, Mr. Obama sought to replace Mr. Bush’s “What part of no enrichment don’t you understand” policy with a “dual track” of diplomatic negotiations and pressure.Prime Minister Erdogan of Turkey and President Lula of Brazil saw an opening and, sensing Iran’s growing influence, worked a deal with President Ahmadinejad last month, which was no more than a slightly watered-down version of an offer to Iran that America agreed to last December. Today Brasilia and Ankara voted against the council resolution, much to Washington’s chagrin. They put the Obama administration on the defensive, forcing America to say that it too is seeking negotiations.“Engagement and diplomacy remain very much on the table,” the American U.N. ambassador, Susan Rice, told reporters after today’s sanctions vote. “The purpose of this resolution was not to punish the people of Iran. It was in fact to change the calculation of the leadership in Iran, constrain their ability to pursue their nuclear and proliferation activities and persuade them of the wisdom of coming to the negotiating table in earnest.”By seeking negotiations, America allows Iran to present itself as an equal partner, even though – in addition to violating the Council’s resolutions – it threatens to annihilate Israel and sponsors terrorists. And the Islamic Republic’s history of using suicide warriors in battle excludes any possibility of Cold War-like nuclear calculation of mutual assured destruction.Iran, in other words, may be as good as America — or better — at soccer, but it is not an equal and should not be worthy of diplomatic “engagement.” Instead, it should be punished by the Security Council, and outside it, and if sanctions fail to end its nuclear dash, the “option” indicated in the oft-repeated sentence “all options are on the table” should be employed soon.

Iran Will Use U.N. Sanctions To Seek To Expand Its Sphere of Influence

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