In the wake of Iran's deadly pirate attack on the Israeli-owned tanker Mercer Street in the Gulf of Oman on July 29, which claimed the lives of the ship's Romanian captain and a British security contractor, the US and England issued aggressive warnings and vowed an appropriate response. The world held its breath, but a long time has passed since then and nothing has happened. The assumption is that a military response to Iran's actions isn't on the horizon at this stage.
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The US wants to draw Iran back to nuclear talks in Vienna in September and therefore won't do anything to derail those plans. Why is everyone waiting until September? It's unclear. In the meantime, and until Iran agrees to be so kind as to return to Vienna, two phenomena are occurring simultaneously. One is that Tehran is persisting with its belligerence in an effort to exhibit its ability to ignite the Middle East if its conditions aren't met. The Iranians are simply applying pressure to improve their bargaining position before returning to the Austrian capital.
The second is America's display of weakness against Iran, which has also entailed calling on its allies to refrain from any action that could upset Tehran prior to Vienna. This is an absurd and also dangerous situation. Given these circumstances, both of these cycles must be broken.
There is a tool that could make Tehran understand the gravity of its actions: Chapter Seven of the United Nations Charter. This chapter allows the Security Council to "determine the existence of any threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression" and to take military and non-military action to "restore international peace and security." This chapter was first evoked during the Korean War in the 1950s and then in 1990 against Saddam Hussein's Iraq, against Libya subsequent to the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi, and against South Africa. Now is the time to apply Chapter VII against Iran.
By any standard, Iran is an aggressor state. It perpetrates hostile acts against civilian targets and commercial ships, violates international maritime laws, supports terrorist organizations and uses them to promote its hegemony, and has paralyzed an entire country on the verge of collapse (Lebanon). Iran is arming Hezbollah and is acting as a state within a state, meddling in Iraq, and has spread its tentacles to far-off corners of the globe.
Even if one of the permanent member-states on the Security Council uses its power to veto a resolution to invoke Chapter VII, such a resolution would still be a strong signal to Iran that the world is fed up, and that the international community can do more than just impose sanctions. Ironically, a discussion in the UN could soften Iran's intransigent stance in the nuclear talks. It will discover there's an alternative, beyond negotiations strictly based on its conditions. On the other hand, the paradox is that only the US can lead such a discussion and enlist other countries to support it. The American dilemma is which path to choose – wait for Vienna, or finally play the game that Iran understands. The decision is in the hands of US President Joe Bide.
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