Lessons Learned: the U.N. Security Council Resolution on Iran Agreement

In: Washington report on Middle East affairs, Band 34, Heft 6

Abstract

At a massive 104 pages, Security Council Resolution 2231 on the Iran nuclear accord is haunted by the Mother of All Resolutions -- the equally lengthy and detailed Resolution 687 that the US and Britain rushed through the Security Council in the wake of Saddam Hussain's defeat in the first Gulf war. That war, of course, followed Saddam's invasion of Kuwait in order to loot its treasures -- so that he could pay the huge bills that he had run up by having previously invaded Iran -- with the not so covert economic and military support of the Western powers now rounding on Iran in these current negotiations. Taking a step back from the latest Resolution 2231, and the negotiations leading up to it, and indeed the conflicts surrounding it, provides an object lesson in modern realpolitik. Iran under the ayatollahs is not one of the world's most popular countries, and some of its expedient allies, such as Syria, are more of a liability than an asset. Adapted from the source document.