Iran Spurns U.N. Sanctions: Where To Now?

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Iran Spurns U.N. Sanctions: Where To Now?

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Iran has declared that it intends to press ahead with its nuclear programme in the face of sanctions from the United Nations Security Council.

War is sometimes described as diplomacy carried on by other means. No-one should want war or crave for it. It must be the last resort.

First is 'jaw, jaw' as Churchill said. Talk by all means, use backroom diplomacy, negotiate, encourage, warn, rebuke - but always leave a door for the other party to go out of with their dignity intact.

Next, the imposition of sanctions. They should be aimed at the government not at the populace. This is a tough option, not least because even the best thought through plans often work out indescriminately, as the lesson of Iraq proved. This does not make sanctions wrong, but it does makes them hard to target, control and enforce.

When all this fails, it's the time for war, if the stakes are high enough. In Iran's case they are very high. Frankly, the survival of Israel is on the block.

In Iran there are restive forces, especially on the campus' that yearn for a more Western leaning government. They need to be strengthened. Any attack must show very clearly that it is not directed at Iran as such but it's ruling elite.

Iran has been talked to, encouraged and warned. It now spurns sanctions. It will be too late to act when Israel is struck or perhaps, Israel takes a first strike option on Iran.

It is time for military action. Has the world got the nerve for this? Answers please on the back of an envelope.