A Russian company is now scheduled to begin work building a nuclear facility for Iran on the Gulf coast at Bushehr. Originally plans had been halted because Iran had agreed to give up their nuclear program for economic aid. However with Iran deciding to throw caution to the wind, plans have resumed for Russia to complete that project. I must admit that I am somewhat shocked that Russia has agreed to complete such an endeavor when they are a member of the UN Security Council. The UN is blatantly opposed to any sort of Iranian nuclear facility yet one of their members is going to provide the means for that project to be completed?
How should the United States react to this scenario? Should we threaten Russia with sanctions as we have done so with Iran? One could make the argument that business is business. If the Russians didn’t get the job done, someone else would step in to fill the slot. Are the Russians a guilty party in this plan?
In my opinion, the United States should continue to make their focus to be convincing Iran to honor the treaty they made which calls for the disablement of nuclear facilities in exchange for economic aid. Iran would then be lifted of their current economic sanctions and would be on the reverse, receiving money form the United States. It is someone ironic to me that one of the best diplomatic practices is to simply pay a country off. I suppose it is far better than the alternative of trying to accomplish everything by force.
What should the United States do now? Keep cracking down on Iran or try to influence Russia to give up the contract?
