Talk to Iran:

In an admirably straightforward report on Monday, the International Atomic Energy Agency asserted that Iran has failed to answer crucial questions about documents that suggest a military dimension to its nuclear programme. At the least, the IAEA report gives the lie to Iran’s claim that it has fully cooperated with the agency. The agency has stipulated Iran’s lack of transparency and called on Tehran to answer key questions about evidence of Iranian studies on designing nuclear warheads, converting uranium, and testing high explosives as well as missile parts suitable for delivering a nuclear warhead.

The EU’s foreign affairs chief, Javier Solana, is about to present a package of commercial and political incentives that Iran would receive if it suspends its enrichment of uranium. Tehran has offered its own package deal, one that includes a proposal for comprehensive security cooperation and the possibility of an international consortium selling “low-enriched” uranium suitable for power plants.

Technically, it would be possible to put such a facility in a so-called black box that makes it impossible for Iran to divert the uranium produced there for a military programme. This is the kind of compromise President Bush — or his successor — ought to pursue as a

priority of US national security. —The Boston Globe