Containing Iran -- The crybaby approach

By Frankie Sturm

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Starting with this one, The Reaction will now be featuring posts by writers from the Truman National Security Project, a Washington-based think tank that bills itself as "the nation's only organization that recruits, trains, and positions a new generation of progressives across America to lead on national security."

It is a wonderful opportunity for us to be associated with such a worthy organization, and I look forward to what will be thoughtful and provocative contributions. It is essential, I think, that liberals and progressives be loud and clear voices in the area of national security, and the Truman Project is at the forefront of this effort.

Please take the time to get to know the Truman Project by checking out its website. You can start by reading its "Our Values" section. And please welcome Frankie, the author of this post, and his colleagues to The Reaction.

-- MJWS

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Frankie Sturm is the Communications Director of the Truman Project.

Iran has been mercifully absent from headlines lately. This changed with the Obama administration’s appointment of Dennis Ross as special advisor for the Gulf and Southwest Asia – thinly veiled reference to Iran. The news prompted Ilan Berman of the American Foreign Policy Council to declare that the U.S. must have no diplomatic relations with Iran until its ceases funding terrorist organizations:

The establishment of a diplomatic outpost in Tehran, with all of the permanence in U.S.-Iranian relations that that will bring -- needs to be conditioned on real changes in direction on the part of Iran's ayatollahs.

Otherwise, Washington’s diplomatic overtures are likely to be seen in Tehran as simply an endorsement of the regime’s rogue behavior so far.

As though Iran’s government is an insecure high school kid, hoping to be asked to the prom. Iran isn’t seeking America’s approval or endorsement. It’s seeking its own best interests. And yes, given the ugly rhetoric and uglier practices of Iran’s ruling elites, that’s a scary proposition.

But that’s no reason to retreat into fantasy. Iran’s support of terrorists is nothing if not morally reprehensible. It’s also a problem worth living with if engagement can persuade Iran to halt its nuclear program. Since air strikes won’t work against Iran’s nuclear program, and we lack the troops to invade and occupy, we lack a viable military option. Diplomacy and sanctions are the only way forward.

Those who oppose diplomacy with Iran are playing a crybaby role. Instead of recognizing the reality that diplomacy and sanctions represent our best and only bet, they’re throwing a temper tantrum instead. Can we can hedge with missile defense? Sure. Should we promise to react to the launch of an Iranian nuke with devastating force? Absolutely. But they have no reason to pretend that tough talk and empty threats will make one iota’s worth of difference. Iran is a serious problem. It deserves serious solutions.