When President-elect Barack Obama introduced his national security team, he identified "preventing the spread of nuclear weapons to Iran and North Korea" as a priority, and for good reason. The International Atomic Energy Agency reported Nov. 19 that Iran is increasing its production of nuclear fuel while denying IAEA inspectors access to sites or documents connected to Tehran's nuclear program.
That same day, Iran's nuclear chief said that Iran has increased the number of centrifuges enriching uranium from 4,000 to 5,000 since August. Tehran has now produced enough nuclear material to make an atomic bomb, experts say. It could also sell or donate nuclear material to terrorists.
Mr. Obama will need to forcefully employ all the economic and diplomatic tools at his disposal, without discarding the option of military force, to persuade Iran's leaders to end their uranium enrichment and support of terrorism.
Ironically, the economic crisis has strengthened Mr. Obama's financial and diplomatic leverage against Iran by precipitating a collapse in oil prices, which have plummeted in recent months from nearly $150 a barrel to about $50. The United Nations has imposed three rounds of economic sanctions against Iran since 2005 to stop Iran's uranium enrichment program, but high oil prices and the sanctions' weakness minimized their effectiveness as Iran used oil revenues to subsidize the prices of gasoline, food, housing and other necessities. Newly low oil prices - and Iran's dependence on imported gasoline - will now render economic sanctions against Iran more effective and make its leaders more willing to negotiate over their nuclear program. Iran, surprisingly, must import 40 percent of the gasoline it needs. When President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad rationed gasoline during the summer of 2007, violent protests broke out, forcing him to end the rationing.
It is equally surprising that neither the United States nor our allies who seek to end Iran's uranium enrichment have attempted to cut off gasoline sales to Iran. Iran bought nearly all of the gasoline it imported from Swiss, Dutch, French, British and Indian companies. The Bush administration, however, has reportedly never pressed their governments specifically to stop companies based in their countries from selling gasoline to Iran. One of the first steps the Obama administration should take is to do just that.
