Iran: Time for a Limited, Multilateral Policy

摘要

Iran's announcement October 21 that it would sign an additional protocol to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), suspend processing of highly enriched uranium, and cooperate with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspections, suggests that Germany, France and the United Kingdom have made important progress toward coaxing Iran to abandon any nuclear ambitions it might have. Because the United States means of influencing Iran are limited, America should scale back its Iran policy goals, and limit them to supporting and strengthening the Europeans multilateral non-proliferation coalition. A more limited U.S. agenda, employing both engagement and focused pressure, will be better able to attract effective multilateral cooperation. A new policy could even be a political asset to the Bush administration in the 2004 general elections.