Iran - living through our mistakes all over again

A further thought, following my piece this morning on Iran.

The main argument against war in Iraq was that containment and sanctions were working. The best argument for the war (made, for instance, by Clinton adviser Kenneth Pollack in The Threatening Storm) was that sanctions were breaking down and could not be used to contain in Iraq in the medium term.

And it is worth remembering that the left (for instance John Pilger) strongly opposed the continuation of sanctions on Iraq. Only when war was suggested did the sanctions suddenly become popular.

We are now living through exactly this debate again, this time over Iran.

Strong financial sanctions are the only hope for a peaceful resolution to the Iranian missile crisis. Without them, the crisis can only end in one of two ways - Iranian missile capability, supporting their aggressive terrorist clients, or missile strikes to stop the nuclear clock.

Yet Europe (particularly Germany and Italy) cannot be persuaded to support a strong enough sanctions package. Sanctions, it seems, will only become a popular cause when it is too late to impose them.

It is immensely depressing to go through all this again.