BERLIN — With U.S. President George W. Bush in Europe getting EU leaders to agree to toughen U.N. sanctions against Iran, and with the ongoing debate between John McCain and Barack Obama about whether the United States needs to talk with Iran's rulers, the issue of Iran's nuclear program is heating up. Iranians, no surprise, are watching this debate with interest. They need to do more than watch.
Iran's political elite see the United States, rather than Europe, as their appropriate international counterpart.
Only the U.S. can give the Islamic Republic the security guarantees it craves. The U.S., indeed, should be prepared to eventually give such guarantees if it wants Iran to stop the more suspicious parts of its nuclear program.