13 October 1997
The Dallas Morning News
Editorial

U.S. Policy needs an overhaul

To convince its major allies to join it in isolating Iran, the United States first tried words. When that failed, it tried coercion. Now coercion seems to have failed also. It's time to consider other approaches.

The U.S. goals regarding Iran are correct: to prevent that Middle Eastern country from obtaining weapons of mass destruction, to keep a buildup of conventional Iranian military forces from tilting the region's balance of power and to discourage its sponsorship of terrorism.

It's the implementation of an effective policy that is wanting. The unilateral U.S. embargo has not kept Iran from trying to build a nuclear bomb. The U.S. law that applies economic sanctions against foreign companies doing business with Iran has been rejected by U.S. allies, who see it as an unjustifiable intrusion in their sovereign affairs.

The immediate impetus for rethinking U.S. policy is the $2 billion Iranian natural gas development deal recently signed by companies from France, Russia and Malaysia. The foreign companies proceeded despite stern warnings from Washington that they would be penalized for violating U.S. law.

The U.S. law aside, the French, Russian and Malaysian companies deserve condemnation for pursuing investments in Iran that could enable the country's radical leaders to finance their weapons and terror projects.

But that doesn't absolve the United States from re-evaluating policies that disadvantage its companies and have failed to convince allies that shunning Iran's radical Islamic regime is the best way to proceed.

To get the United States out of its box, President Clinton should first stall. The law gives him up to 90 days to consult with relevant foreign governments. He should use the time to develop an Iran policy that does more than make hawkish congressmen think they are doing something effective.

Second, as Eric Melby of the Forum for International Policy suggests, he should forge a consensus with allies where it is possible to forge consensus: namely, in the areas of export controls on military equipment.

Third, he should consider new ways to restrain Iran's nuclear ambitions. For that, he might look to North Korea. There, the United States provided nuclear technology in return for safeguards. If it worked once, it might work again.

Fourth, he should ask Congress to loosen the restrictions on U.S. investment in Iran. Investments should be judged case by case. The positive involvement of U.S. companies might draw Iran from its isolation.

There is no harm in changing a failed policy. The harm comes in persisting once failure is obvious.

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