SINCE NEGOTIATIONS WITH IRAN HAVE FAILED, WHAT NOW?
(Article in FLAME)
Perhaps you read the account of a former general of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards who called supreme ruler Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s claims of a peaceful nuclear program a “sheer lie.”
The former military man said in a letter that “The inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency are fooling themselves if they believe that the nuclear facilities on and under the ground are only for peaceful purposes.” He also asserted that Iran is paying Russia and China billions of dollars so that these nations will support Iran in its international nuclear negotiations.
What many in the West, apparently including President Obama, fail to understand is that this struggle of wills over Iran’s nuclear weapons development mean completely different things to the negotiating parties—which creates a fatal flaw in U.S. strategy. The goal of Western powers’ economic sanctions is to create such hardship on Iran that internal pressure causes a change in policies or in leadership. Iran, however, sees the sanctions as an attempt to prevent the spread of the Iranian model and to show to the world that the Islamic Republic is a failed example.
In short, if Iran gives in to Western pressure, this will demonstrate a failure of the regime and of the Islamist dream in the region. Thus Khamenei and his government will suffer virtually any economic hardship in order to preserve themselves and their mission. They will endure until they actually acquire nuclear arms or until circumstances in the region change. In other words, as Iran’s hard refusal to yield on its nuclear arms development plainly demonstrates, Khamenei believes it’s worth the price they are paying.
This week’s FLAME Hotline article is a brilliant update on why negotiations with Iran can bring no satisfactory solution in the foreseeable future, written by John Bolton, former Ambassador to the United Nations during 2005-06 and a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
This piece gives you powerful facts and arguments you can use to explain why some other solution—most certainly the force of arms by the U.S. or Israel—must be used to stop Iran’s nuclearization. You’ll find it useful in preparing colleagues, fellow congregants and friends for this eventuality.
