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The best way to avoid a nuclear showdown with Tehran is to support its democratic opposition and human rights.

The recent decision by the Obama administration to sanction some of
the Iranian regime's worst human-rights abusers is a welcome if belated
step in the right direction. But it falls far short of what could be
done on this front to further isolate Tehran. The European Union,
meanwhile, hasn't even decided yet whether to consider at all human
rights sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

This failure is nothing short of astonishing. Apart from the obvious
moral reasons for supporting human rights in Iran, such a policy would
undermine the regime and thus help the West in its nuclear standoff with
Tehran. Iran's illicit atomic program is a danger principally because
of the regime's aggressive nature. If the opposition were to topple the
revolutionary Islamist leaders, Iran's nuclear project would be
instantly less threatening. Regime change is the best way to avoid a
showdown with Tehran.

Western democracies therefore ought to target the regime for its
human-rights record, bolster the country's internal opposition, and
speak directly to the Iranian people over the heads of their brutal
regime. After the Islamic Republic rigged last year's presidential
elections and crushed the ensuing protests, the veneer of order has
returned to the country. But... >>>