A deal for Iran
THE MOMENT of truth is approaching in the diplomatic efforts of Britain, France, and Germany to persuade Iran to forgo the possibility of producing fissile material needed for nuclear weapons. Those three countries, acting for the European Union, have thus far demonstrated exactly the right balance of firmness, tact, and flexibility. Those virtues were on display yesterday when the three governments and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana sent a letter to Iranian authorities along with a 34-page document that presents Iran with the Europeans' long-awaited proposal for a comprehensive bargain.
''We hope that you will be ready to engage with our proposals," the letter said, referencing a meeting for senior officials in Paris on Aug. 31. If they run true to form, the hard-liners who have taken control of all levers of power in Iran are likely to rebuff the Europeans' package -- at least initially.
The European proposal, however, gives the Iranian hard-liners just about everything they could ask for. It offers access to Western technology, the prospect of badly needed trade preferences and foreign investment, and security guarantees that ought to obviate any presumed need for a nuclear deterrent.
In return, the European trio is asking only that the Iranian regime agree not to convert or enrich uranium and not to process plutonium for nuclear weapons. As compensation for entering such an agreement, the Europeans would guarantee permanent Iranian access to fuel for civilian nuclear power plants.
This offer brings Iran's policymakers to a moment of truth. It obliges them to reveal their hole card -- to let the world see whether they are interested in developing only peaceful nuclear power for the generation of electricity or whether their true intent all along has been to acquire the highly enriched uranium required for nuclear weapons.
The European proposal even includes a provision assuring Iran that it is not being asked to cede its right to produce and use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. Since Iranian negotiators have persistently claimed a right under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to obtain all forms of nuclear technology, including a capability to create highly enriched uranium, this European assurance removes any pretext that Iran is being singled out for humiliation or persecution.
Now that the European offer has finally been placed on the table, the Bush administration can no longer question European resoluteness, and the Iranians can no longer pretend that their interests are being ignored. If the Iranian hard-liners definitively refuse the European offer, they will be responsible for the sanctions and isolation that must ensue.
