International Dilemma

Iran decided to discontinue negotiations with Russia after the IAEA decided to report Iran to the Security Council; and it has resumed uranium enrichment work.

So what should the international community do?

It can sit back and take Iran’s word that the nuclear research is for energy production and not for the development of nuclear weapons. However this could have been accomplished if Iran had accepted Russia’s proposal.

Economic sanctions can be put in place but this would have devastating results on the civilian population as well as enrage Muslims around the world, like the economic sanctions in Iraq did; and it would not cause Iran to stop uranium enrichment. And it would give terrorist cells more justifications for attacking “the West.”

Iran can be invaded as well but that would have worse results than the economic sanctions.

The international community can make a deal similar to the one made by the US with India…which allows access to civilian nuclear technology and the building of nuclear power plants by foreign companies; in the deal military and civilian nuclear research is kept completely separate. This choice is risky and modifications to ‘the deal’ need to be made for the international community to accept and it requires a lot of trust but the deal may allow them to monitor Iran’s nuclear research better then in the past.

Whatever route the international community takes it needs to consider the impact the decision will have on Iran’s citizens, the Muslim world, and the international community.