MiamiHerald.com | 01/17/2006 | 'Patience' allows Iran to win the game

MiamiHerald.com 01/17/2006 'Patience' allows Iran to win the game

Allow me to suggest a new game for our times. Simply go online and Google the words Iran and patience. The first thing you will discover is that the world is ''running out of patience'' with Iran's nuclear games. Next you will notice that the world's patience was already running out years ago.

When the world is at the end of its rope, it appears, what comes next is a lot more rope.

If the situation with Iran were not so dangerous, the world's handling of the growing crisis could earn a place in the diplomatic comedy hall of fame.

After the diplomacy debacle that preceded the Iraq wars, negotiators are hard at work on the issue of Iran. Since late 2002, the international community has worked together to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons. Iran insists its atom program seeks only energy, but the discovery of enormous secret nuclear facilities and Iran's on-again off-again cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency have fueled fears about Tehran's true intentions.

As far back as June 2004, the IAEA's Mohammed ElBaradei declared sharply that Iran's lack of cooperation was ''less than satisfactory'' and the world was, you guessed it, losing its patience. The matter was dragging, so ElBaradei, who has since won the Nobel Peace Prize, declared that the matter should be concluded in the ''next few months.'' That was almost 20 months ago.

In September 2004, a high-ranking British Diplomat told the London Times that Britain, France and Germany were, yes, losing patience with Iran's reluctance to curb its nuclear program. According to the unknown official, November (2004) was the deadline for Iran to stop nuclear activities and fully cooperate with the international community. Otherwise, the matter would be sent to the United Nations Security Council and Iran would face tough sanctions.

Washington has called for U.N. sanctions since the early days of the world's perennially dwindling patience. But Europe, ever devoted to talking, has managed to persuade the United States to give it time.
Iran continued talking, making and breaking promises. By August French President Jacques Chirac announced that he, too, was running out of patience. Iran must have shaken in its boots when Chirac warned that the Security Council might censure Iran if it didn't start cooperating.
Sanctions stalled

By then, Iran had elected a new president. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made a name for himself as the first president of a U.N. member state to call for the destruction of another member. Calls for Israel's annihilation make the diplomatic follies over Iran's nuclear plans much less humorous.
Efforts to bring U.N. sanctions have stalled partly because Russia and China, with multibillion-dollar oil deals, don't want to antagonize Tehran's petroleum-soaked theocracy. The situation is complicated by Iran's location next to Iraq. Tehran could make life even more difficult for American forces there. Turning up the pressure on Iran carries risks for all sides. But the current strategy is an embarrassing and dangerous failure.

Diplomats seem impressed with themselves. They have managed to work together, just like in the old days, Europe and America on the same team. Only Iran does not seem to be playing well with others. That's why Iran is winning the game.

Last month ElBaradei declared that patience was ending. And last week, when Iran broke the seals of its uranium-enrichment plant in brazen defiance of the international community, Britain's Tony Blair expressed ''real and serious alarm.'' Russia's foreign minister spoke of ''deep disappointment.'' But Russia also said that Iran's actions were not illegal. Russia, it seems, does not fully share Europe and America's view on the danger posed by a nuclear-armed Iran.

Security Council

Back in August, when Chirac threatened the very scary censure, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator told an Iranian television interviewer, ''Thanks to our dealings with Europe, we managed to continue the work for two years.'' That's enough time, he said, to complete the uranium conversion facility in Isfahan.
European foreign ministers have met again, and again spoke of sending the issue to the Security Council. The time for talking and stalling and negotiating, without taking action, has to end some day. The nations that believe Iran must be sanctioned have waited long enough. Full sanction by the entire world would be ideal. But if some countries continue to stall, the moment is long overdue for ''sanctions by the willing'' as a first step.

More patience could prove catastrophic.
Frida Ghitis writes about world affairs.