The day after the International Atomic Energy Agency published a progress report on Iran that is highly critical of its regime’s conduct, France’s former Socialist Prime Minister (and current member of the EU Parliament) Michel Rocard published an article in Libération, co-signed by two others, launching an appeal to fellow Europeans to “prevent the coming war against Iran.”

Given France’s recently-renewed foreign policy vigor on Iran’s nuclear file, one might hope that this appeal endorses President Nicolas Sarkozy’s view that unless Europe and its allies increase sanction pressure on Tehran, they will soon face a stark choice—bombing Iran or Iran’s bomb. Unfortunately, Rocard & Co., from the pages of the left-leaning Liberation, have done nothing of the sort. Theirs is an appeal to screen Iran from any further pressure. There is no reference to what a nuclear Iran could mean to the region—or to European strategic concerns. There is no reference to Iran’s threats to annihilate another UN member state—only sanctimony about the UN Charter mandating its signatories like the United States not to use force against other member states. In the opinion of Rocard and his co-signatories, nuclear disarmament is what the West—and Israel—should offer Iran instead of strong sanctions.

Rocard is not the voice of power in Europe today—thankfully. His appeals, though, must be taken seriously, because his views are not isolated. If successful, this peace-at-all-costs position, in practice an apology for Iran’s refusal to comply with UN resolutions 1737 and 1747, would facilitate, rather than prevent, strikes against Iran. Its aim is not to offer peaceful alternatives to a real threat. Its goals are to dismiss any talk of the threat as warmongering rhetoric, to drive a wedge between Europe and the U.S., and to give Iran a free hand in the pursuit of its nuclear goals.

Pretending the real threat to Europe is a U.S.-launched strike against Iran—rather than a nuclear Iran—will pave the way for the very war Rocard wants to avoid. If Europe wants to avoid war, it should not dismiss Iran’s explicitly stated goals as gimmicks. It should increase the pressure on Iran now.

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This entry was posted on Monday, November 19th, 2007 at 5:24 PM and is filed under Contentions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.