In what has to be the least surprising piece of news this summer, Iran has refused to comply with the United Nations deadline to give up its nuclear program. So now we get to the episode in this farce in which the UN will debate sanctions on Iran (while former Iranian president Mohammed Khatami, invited here by the UN, enjoys a two-week publicity tour ^[1] in the U.S.).

How to stop Iran from going nuclear is a tough question, but we should at least start by ruling out what won’t work — which is trying to go through the UN. I have an Op-ed in today’s Wall Street Journal on why this is nuts ^[2]. All it will do is wring concessions from the U.S. in the effort to win over inveterate cheats such as China and Russia, and buy more time for Iran to make bombs. If it’s effective sanctions we want, maybe we should start by banning the State Department from dealing with the UN on Iran (or for that matter, the rest of the Middle East).

In other words, skip the Potemkin debate at Turtle Bay, require our own government to face facts, and free up the U.S. to put together a coalition of countries unburdened by the moral blindness, corrupt workings and slippery Secretary-General of the UN. And get serious about stopping the terror-loving Iranian regime from launching a global nuclear blackmail racket out of the oilfields of the Middle East.