Editorial
A weak Security Council draft is better than none at all
Saturday, January 26, 2008; Page A16
Iran has stood in defiance of that order for more than 18 months, even as it has rapidly built up an enrichment facility capable of producing the raw material for a bomb in about a year. But the good news is that the sanctions passed in two previous Security Council resolutions and augmented by unilateral steps by the U.S. Treasury appear to be having an impact. Imported consumer goods are getting scarcer and more expensive in Iranian cities; thanks in part to disinvestment caused by the sanctions, a natural gas shortage has intensified a battle between President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and parliament. There’s a decent chance that Iranian voters will punish the hard-line faction Mr. Ahmadinejad represents in parliamentary elections scheduled for March.
None of this means that Iran will soon suspend its nuclear work or even deliver on the cooperation it has promised the International Atomic Energy Agency in clearing up unanswered questions about its program. But it does suggest that if sustained and strengthened, sanctions could eventually force the regime to choose between a nuclear weapons capacity and a viable economy. The National Intelligence Estimate concluded that Iran would be guided by “a cost-benefit approach” in deciding about its nuclear program. We can only hope that this assessment is correct — and that the Security Council will ensure that the costs are made manifest.