WASHINGTON, Feb. 20 (UPI) -- The international community needs consistency in dealing with Iran or it could develop a nuclear weapon within a year, a scholar said.
David Albright, head of the Institute for Science and International Security, said in an interview with the Council on Foreign Relations that the international community needs to simultaneously help Iran with a nuclear energy program while increasing sanctions to move Tehran away from seeking a nuclear weapon.
"It's one of the unfortunate ironies of the situation that while they don't have enough uranium for a civil nuclear energy program, they have plenty for a weapons program," he said.
Albright said Washington and the international community need to pressure Iran to stop its uranium-enrichment program through direct negotiations with Tehran in order to make demands on the regime clear.
"The important thing is to maintain the U.S. goal of an Iranian suspension of uranium enrichment," he said.
He points to diplomatic pressure on South Africa and the contrasting policy toward Pakistan, where consistency forced South Africa to abandon its weapons program, while "we have to fear Pakistan for many reasons."
Albright said military action may encourage Iran to accelerate a weapons program, leaving direct negotiations and threats of continued economic isolation as viable options for dealing with the problem.
