PressEthic

President Bush is addressing the General Assembly at the UN today, where he will press member nations for a unified resolution on Iran's nuclear ambitions - specifically, a threat to send the issue to the Security Council where sanctions could be imposed if Iran does not stop its nuclear processing activities.

After agreeing last November to suspend tests at uranium-conversion facilities, Iran last month announced that it would resume testing, despite its earlier indications that it would consider a long-term agreement with France, Britain and Germany that would trade suspension of its nuclear activities for substantial economic assistance. The US was largely absent from these initial negotiations.

The New York Times reports today that the International Atomic Energy Agency is split over referring Iran to the Security Council, fearing a repeat of the lead up to the Iraq war, while France, Britain and Germany stand with the US in backing a Security Council referral.

The US and EU should make clear that the intent of sending the issue to the Security Council is not to precipitate another Iraq-style confrontation, and that the military option is off the table.

Rather, to convince Iran to stop its continued processing of nuclear material, the US, EU and other countries need to focus on Iran’s economy, and it’s largely unemployed young population, with big rewards and big penalties.

The election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the Iranian presidency may seem to have spelled bad news for US – Iranian relations. The presidency had previously been a hold out of Iran’s reformers, and Ahmadinejad’s election gives control of all of the states institutions to the Supreme Council and the countries hard liners.

However, it would be a mistake for the US and its allies to ignore one of the major issues in the Iranian election: the economy. Ahmadinejad garnered a huge amount of his support from voters concerned with Iran’s faltering economy and astronomical unemployment rate. Among Ahmadinejad’s campaign promises was a monthly stipend for the countries citizens.

If the UN is serious about halting Iran’s nuclear program, and seriously curbing its ambitions, it should refer Iran to the Security Council, where strict economic sanctions would be threatened should Iran fail to stop its nuclear work.

Equally, the US and other member nations should offer a substantial – and detailed – economic aid package should Iran take the other road. The unity on aid should be as strong as that on sanctions.

The US needs to make clear to Iran that it cannot be strong both militarily (meaning nuclear) and economically. It has to choose.

If the US is serious about halting Iran’s nuclear ambitions, it should use economic, not military, levers to force Iran’s leaders to choose between guns and butter.