UN as a force for world peace?

The UN’s IAEA? Led by Iran's trade partners, China and Russia, it is showing the same weakness of purpose that presumably won it this year's Nobel Peace Prize. It has so far steadfastly refused to refer Iran to the Security Council, preferring to give Iran "more time".

Indeed, the sum total of concrete proposals for action against Iran is a plan by the German Green Party to boot Iran from the 2006 World Cup. (FIFA has rejected that draconian sanction).

This global ineptitude comes at a time when strength and resolve from the UN is needed more than ever.

The US may refer Iran to the Security Council and may, with its allies, co-ordinate and enforce its own sanctions. However, post Afghanistan and Iraq, Americans are war-weary. Politically, the US may be unable to bail out the world community on Iran. The UN must take the lead.

This is a worrying thought as recently, the UN has been especially feckless on Middle Eastern affairs. It was damaged by Oil-for-Food and its inability to enforce its own sanctions on Iraq. It emboldened the Iraqi insurgents by withdrawing from Baghdad at the first sign of terrorist violence. Its members are clearly more interested in demonising Israel than with taming Islamic and Arab thugs and despots in the region.

Today, there is no graver threat to world peace than the prospect of a nuclear Iran and therefore few more defining moments in UN history. Its mettle and priorities will be on full display for the next 6 months.

Iran has been secretly enriching uranium for 18 years and is thumbing its nuclear nose at the world community. The time for niceties and gentle persuasion has surely gone. The Security Council must be invoked at once. It must demand immediate Iranian compliance with treaty obligations, cessation of nuclear work and submission to full nuclear inspections. It must back this demand with the threat of tough sanctions and, in time, the possibility of UN-backed air-strikes.

Recent history shows that tyrannical Middle East regimes respect nothing but strength. The UN cannot simply issue measly statements and expect the mullahs to stop developing their nuclear infrastructure. Since 2001, potential menaces are disappearing at a clip of about one per year: Afghanistan and Iraq has gone to the polls to elect democratic Governments; Libya has abandoned its nuclear weapons and moved towards détente; Arafat was isolated and is now gone; Syria is out of Lebanon. It was certainly not gentle Western appeasement or dialogue that achieved these outcomes.

Step-by-step, the West is making progress towards the important goal of a more peaceful Middle East. However, if Iran’s nuclear program is not halted, all of these great advances will count for little, and the UN for even less.