Boomeranging Sanctions on Iran
The Bush Administration now has Iran sanctions to brandish, but the resolution is pragmatically irrelevant, undermines U.S. interests and represents a liability for the UN and the Security Council.
The only conceivable peaceful solution is granting Iran's full legal rights under the NPT to develop a peaceful nuclear program, in return for the most intrusive inspections that go beyond anything that any other country has a agreed to up to now. This system could, in turn, be used for all other countries that pursue peaceful nuclear programs, in turn re-enforcing nuclear non-proliferation-Washington's articulated goal, after all.
Hossein Askari is Iran professor of International Business and International Affairs at George Washington University.