Rethinking Iran

PRESIDENT BUSH HAS MADE A U-TURN on Iran -- and not a moment too soon. Just as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was about to get on a plane to Vienna for talks on Iran, she announced a courageous and historic about-face that offers hope of ending the hostility that has marked U.S. relations with Iran since 1979.

That said, the chances of negotiating a verifiable, permanent end to Iran’s suspected nuclear weapons program are slim. Iran’s anti-Semitic, nationalistic president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, appears determined to produce nuclear weapons. But even if negotiations founder or fail, Bush’s overture to Iran is as shrewd as it is welcome. Blame will rightly fall on Tehran if it fails to seize this opportunity.

Tehran’s blustery initial response, dismissing the offer for talks as U.S. “propaganda,” only shows how completely Bush’s gambit caught the Iranians off guard. Several aspects of Wednesday’s announcement indicate that the administration has done some serious thinking, and rethinking, on Iran.

First, despite Iran’s history of mendacity with its nuclear program, Rice made a point Wednesday to acknowledge -- twice -- Iran’s right to a civilian nuclear energy program. It was a necessary concession to Iran’s pride in its program and to the fact that the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty allows for it.

Second, in a concession to both Iran and Europe, Rice said the U.S. would “actively support” greater European economic cooperation with Iran. This reverses decades of U.S. attempts to wreak economic pain on Iran. It also offers hope that China and Russia, which have strong economic ties to Iran and have opposed U.S. efforts to exert pressure on Iran at the U.N., may be more likely to support U.S. efforts.

Third, Rice demanded as a condition for talks that Iran “fully and verifiably suspends its enrichment and reprocessing activities.”

That may sound tough, but it’s actually a face-saving gesture. Tehran can agree to a temporary suspension -- as it has previously done during negotiations with the Europeans -- without backing off its position that it will resume enrichment any time it pleases. And the White House can tell the Iran bashers in Congress that its willingness to negotiate has had tangible rewards.

More broadly, Bush’s move indicates a late-blooming maturity in foreign relations. A president frequently chided for refusing to admit error has not only changed his mind, he has reexamined one of the core principles of his foreign policy. Even before his inauguration, Bush’s most senior advisors were adamant that the way to deal with “rogue regimes” was to freeze them out. And Iran was famously included in the “axis of evil” that Bush identified in 2002.

Iran is no less dangerous today than it was four years ago. And its near-immediate dismissal of this overture is not encouraging. Yet Rice arrives in Vienna not only with a new proposal but a new approach. That change may be the more important one and, in the end, the more consequential.