Five ways Iran is not like North Korea

You’re going to hear a lot in the coming days, I expect, about how the "North Korea model" can be applied to negotiations with Iran. Forgive me for raining on the parade here, but there are some important differences that we need to keep in mind. Iran is not on the brink of mass famine. ...

You're going to hear a lot in the coming days, I expect, about how the "North Korea model" can be applied to negotiations with Iran. Forgive me for raining on the parade here, but there are some important differences that we need to keep in mind.

You’re going to hear a lot in the coming days, I expect, about how the "North Korea model" can be applied to negotiations with Iran. Forgive me for raining on the parade here, but there are some important differences that we need to keep in mind.

  1. Iran is not on the brink of mass famine.
  2. Iran has enormous oil and gas resources; North Korea is in desperate need of imported fuel oil and has few legitimate sources of foreign exchange.
  3. Iran can stir up trouble in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, the Gulf, and the Palestinian territories.
  4. Iran has the ability to launch sophisticated terrorist attacks all over the world; North Korea did not.
  5. Iran’s nuclear program has broad support in a regime where decision-making is diffuse and opaque; Kim Jong Il had much more lattitude to make the big decision to come in from the cold.

It’s also worth noting that North Korea is keeping the nuclear weapons it has already produced, whereas Iran is still in the enrichment and research phase. It’s by no means clear the regime has decided to go for the bomb, as opposed to latent nuclear capacity.

I’m not saying the United States shouldn’t engage Iran, but just trying to point out that the Islamic Republic is a much tougher nut to crack.

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