The myth of Iran’s ‘isolation’

By Charles Krauthammer

In announcing the passage of a U.N. Security Council resolution imposing sanctions on Iran, President Barack Obama stressed not once but twice Iran's increasing “isolation” from the world. This claim is not surprising considering that after 16 months of an “extended hand” policy, in response to which Iran accelerated its nuclear program, Iranian “isolation” is about the only achievement to which the administration can plausibly lay claim.

“Isolation” may have failed to deflect Iran's nuclear ambitions, but it does enjoy incessant repetition by the administration. For example, in his State of the Union address, Obama said that “the Islamic Republic of Iran is more isolated.” Two months later, Vice President Joe Biden asserted that “since our administration has come to power, I would point out that Iran is more isolated - internally, externally - has fewer friends in the world.” At the signing of the START treaty in April, Obama said that “those nations that refuse to meet their obligations [to the Non-Proliferation Treaty, i.e., Iran] will be isolated.”

Really? On Tuesday, one day before the president touted passage of a weak U.N. resolution, the leaders of Russia, Turkey and Iran gathered at a security summit in Istanbul “in a display of regional power that appeared to be calculated to test the United States,” as the New York Times put it. I would add: And calculated to demonstrate the hollowness of U.S. claims of Iranian isolation, to flaunt Iran's growing ties with Russia and quasi-alliance with Turkey, a NATO member no less.

Iran's claim of increasing isolation is increasingly implausible. Last month, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad held a love fest in Tehran with the leaders of Turkey and Brazil. The three announced a uranium transfer deal designed to torpedo U.S. attempts to impose U.N. sanctions.

Six weeks ago, Iran was elected to the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women, a grotesque choice that mocked Obama's attempt to isolate Iran.

Increasing isolation? In the past year alone, Ahmadinejad has been welcomed in Kabul, Istanbul, Copenhagen, Caracas, Brasilia, La Paz, Senegal, Gambia and Uganda. Friday, he was in China.

The Obama strategy toward Iran and other rogue states has been to offer goodwill and concessions on the premise this would lead to one of two outcomes: the other side changes, or, if not, the world isolates the offending state and rallies around us.

Iran's response? Defiance, contempt and an acceleration of its nuclear program.

And the world's response? The Russians and Chinese bargained successfully to hollow out the sanctions resolution. Turkey is choosing sides with the region's “strong horse” - Iran and its clients (Syria, Hezbollah, Hamas) - as it watches the United States flailingly try to placate Syria and appease Iran while it pressures Israel, neglects Lebanon and draws down its power in the region.

All this has been read as American weakness, evidence that Obama can be rolled.

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