On Feb. 9, Iran began feeding uranium into centrifuges that would increase its enrichment to 20 percent from 4 percent before inspectors arrived.
According to a Feb. 9 Agence France-Presse article by Jay Deshmukh, once the 20 percent threshold is met, Iran will be able to continue to enrich the uranium to 93 percent. That’s the level required to create nuclear weapons.
It is time for U.S. leadership to step up and fully engage Iran and other nations not only on the issue of nuclear power, but also other political affairs that affect Europe and Asia.
America’s first effort at diplomacy failed; the U.S. offered to give Iran uranium that had already been enriched enough for medicinal use, but Iran insisted on developing the element for itself.
Congress then moved to impose sanctions to prevent money from going to companies that contribute to Iran’s interest in nuclear weapons. The amended Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act of 2009 needed 285 votes to pass the House, and it received 412.
One of the few naysayers, Texas Rep. Ron Paul, said in a statement through his Web site, “(as) we have learned with U.S. sanctions on Iraq, and indeed with U.S. sanctions on Cuba and elsewhere, it is citizens rather than governments who suffer most.”
But it isn’t U.S.-imposed sanctions that hurt the people of Iran; it is the decisions made by Iranian leadership that harm them. It is also not the U.S.’s responsibility to protect the Iranian people at the expense of jeopardizing the safety of America and its allies.
The U.S. has to walk a fine line between flexing its muscles and being open to diplomatic talks.
Sanctions are the best way to tell Iran that the U.S. is serious about preventing it from developing a nuclear arsenal.
Yet, it would be a mistake to abandon tactful conversation with the Iranian government. If the U.S. were to initiate military action against Iran, the international community would balk at relations with us.
President Barack Obama has agreed to talks with Iranian leadership without pre-conditions; it is critical that these talks take into account the volatile state in which Iran finds itself.
China, India, Israel, Pakistan and Russia are all nuclear powers, and they are all relatively close to Iran. But Iran should not, under any condition, be allowed to develop nuclear weapons.
The fundamentalist views of Iran’s leadership, its history of violence and oppression within its own borders and its aggressive and utterly uncooperative attitudes toward the U.S. makes it a ticking time bomb.
The U.S. needs to open a dialogue with the support and involvement of the international community. Put the burden on other nations to enter into talks with Iran, and when that fails to deter Iran’s nuclear interests, the U.S. will be left with strong alliances.
One way or another, Iran must not be allowed to develop nuclear power. Pre-conditions or not, the country’s best option is to talk to the U.S. now.
Kristin Esparza is a history senior and may be reached at [email protected]
