Harsh Sanctions, Threats Will Stop Iran

In recent weeks, the Iranian regime has made almost every possible mistake. First, it rejected the uranium deal offered by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany (P5+1). Under its terms, Iran would have transferred to Russia 75-80 percent of the uranium it has to date enriched at a low level of about 3 percent, and would have received it a year later via a third country in the form of nuclear fuel rods for the small research reactor in Tehran.

True, this entailed one disadvantage for the Iranians: Giving up the uranium would have delayed by a year their capability to produce the fissile material required for a first nuclear bomb. But the advantages implicit in the deal outweighed this disadvantage: It did not oblige Iran to stop enriching uranium and therefore tacitly legitimized efforts to make up the shortfalls in its uranium stockpile within a year, even enlarging it. Moreover, had it accepted this arrangement, Iran would have shown responsibility and would have appeared to be a regime with which it's possible to reach agreements. Also, in such circumstances, it would have been impossible to impose further sanctions.