The agreement with Turkey
and Brazil
gives Iran an
honorable route to compromise...without kowtowing to the U.S. or Israel. Before, Iran
was offered only humiliating, one-sided submission to Washington,
but now it can play the role of peace-maker by cooperating with the spirit of
its new agreement.
Iran
has no hope of catching up to Israel
in nuclear terms, so the possession of nuclear weapons will only undermine
Iranian security. But Iranian nuclear ambiguity is a valuable card that can now
be traded for real enhancement in its national security and international
prestige, not to mention gaining it significant economic and technological
benefits. Iran's
road to regional leadership lies not through worrying those from Saudi
Arabia to Israel
who are concerned about their own national security; it lies not through
baiting all the West's extremists, who have repeatedly shown in recent years
what they are capable of.
The road to Iranian national security lies through giving up its policy of nuclear ambiguity and its program to enrich uranium past the low levels required for electricity generation in return for membership in a broad coalition of disparate states, all of whom agree that A) members of the NPT have the right to refine uranium and B) nuclear war is something to be avoided. Beyond the numerous immediate benefits to Iran of such a course, it would launch a process of reforming the rigid international political system by spurring the emergence of a moderate middle group of countries that want to replace the hierarchical structure of the global political system under Washington's leadership with a more networked system that facilitates foreign policy independence. This is an outcome Tehran should be able to live with.
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