The Bush administration should follow the lead of its Arab allies in pursuing regional integration; a framework for doing so already exists: the Gulf Cooperation Council grouping of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Instead of viewing the council merely as a vessel for containing Iran, Washington should encourage its members to undertake defense integration with each other and the construction of a cooperative regional security order -- just as the U.S. encouraged European nations to pursue integration even as it helped protect them against the Soviet threat. Indeed, it was precisely because the European Union was up and running at the end of the Cold War that it was able to successfully embrace its former adversaries in Central Europe after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Iran's deepening engagement with the GCC, coupled with direct negotiations between Washington and Tehran, would similarly hold out hope of drawing the country into the embrace of regional integration.
After three decades of isolating Iran, it is time to acknowledge that economic sanctions, diplomatic pressure and military threats have failed to bring Tehran to heel. To be sure, Iran's nuclear program, its support of extremist groups standing in the way of the peace process and its arming of Shiite militias in Iraq pose serious threats to the U.S. and its allies.
However, containment has not worked, and the debacle in Iraq has made clear the dangers of regime change by force. The best means of addressing the Iranian threat are through patient diplomacy and regional integration along the lines envisioned by America's Arab allies.
