Tehran’s Ambitions

Five years after the United Nations Security Council ordered it to halt, Iran is still enriching uranium and refusing to come clean about its nuclear program. Tehran is clearly hoping the world will either forget or acquiesce. That would be very dangerous.

The latest report from the International Atomic Energy Agency is a chilling reminder of both the scale of Iran’s nuclear ambitions and the lengths it will go to cover up the truth. The agency expressed strong concern about Iran’s “past or current undisclosed nuclear related activities” with “possible military dimensions.”

It also said Iran had greatly increased production of uranium to 20 percent purity instead of the 3.5 percent purity normally used to fuel nuclear power plants. That is a significant step closer to the 90 percent threshold required to make nuclear weapons fuel. Tehran says it wants the stockpile for its medical research reactor but the amount is far more than needed and another reason to be suspicious. Meanwhile, Tehran announced that it is moving its production of higher-grade uranium to a heavily defended underground military site outside the city of Qum.

Iran selectively cooperates with the atomic agency’s inspectors — usually when it is eager to deflect international heat — and last month gave a senior official access to many facilities. But the agency says many questions remain unanswered and it still cannot verify that the program is peaceful. The only good news is that Iran’s program is not advancing as fast as many feared, as a result of the Stuxnet computer worm and sanctions that make it harder for Tehran to import needed materials.

Moscow — Tehran’s longtime trading partner and enabler — now seems determined to let up on the pressure. Russian officials have proposed a “step by step” negotiating approach under which Iran would address outstanding questions and be rewarded with a lifting of sanctions. We do not know all the details but experts say the emphasis seems to be more on lifting sanctions and less on persuading Iran to curtail its nuclear efforts. The atomic agency, under Mohamed ElBaradei, tried a similar approach and got too little from Tehran, while Iran got more time to crank out more enriched uranium.

We’re not sure any mix of sanctions and inducements can work. We are sure that less pressure will guarantee that Iran will keep pushing its nuclear program ahead. The United States and its allies should go back to the Security Council and argue for even tougher punishments — it has been 15 months since the last round of sanctions. That is the only chance of getting Tehran’s attention.

Source: NYTimes.com