Iran needs to be squeezed....

Time for the EU and the US to get serious...

Carrots do not work with either Ayatollah Khamenei, or with Mr Ahmadinejad, who since stealing the election has declared the nuclear programme non-negotiable. What then? The sticks of economic sanctions are notoriously difficult to aim against elites without hurting people who, in Iran’s case, are already hard hit by unemployment, inflation, rank inequality and mismanagement. They also take time to work, and time, on the nuclear front, is short.

But increased economic pressure now would chime with the accusations, levelled at Mr Ahmadinejad by his main challenger, Mir Hossein Mousavi, that mismanagement and “adventurism” have led to economic misery and international disrepute. Since Iran depends on Europe for 40 per cent of its imports, mainly from Germany, Italy and France, a sharp temporary trade freeze would be devastating — particularly if it included petrol, which Iran imports for lack of refining capacity. Sanctions would hit the wealth of Revolutionary Guard commanders, who control vast tracts of the economy. They would also reveal Mr Ahmadinejad’s North Korean-style “self-sufficiency” rhetoric for the economic rubbish it is.

The Europeans, however, will not move unless they can be convinced that sanctions form part of a coherent Obama strategy. The L’Aquila summit needs at the least to convince them that the US is getting its ducks in a row.

Public diplomacy towards Iran also needs drastic overhaul. A basic Western misunderstanding has been that, 30 years after Khomeini’s revolution, Iranians are still brainwashed by his aggressively messianic message. This misconception underpinned the West’s pathetic eagerness to be seen not to “intervene” in Iran’s drama, a sacrifice of principle for no reward since the regime blamed satanic meddling anyway. Even at the height of Khomeinist fervour, the massed black-clad rallies were far from the whole story — some five million Iranians have spent time in jail since 1979 — and experience has inoculated most Iranians against permanent Islamic revolution.

Their courage has more than earned Iranians the right to be treated as adults. At least a third are plugged into the information revolution by satellite and mobiles. And they are in a mood to listen. They have been told that their nuclear programme is peaceable, and it is as such that it has massive support. Detailed evidence that the regime has lied to them is worth laying out, clearly and repeatedly, together with an explanation of the links between non-compliance and sanctions, and the rewards on offer for Iranian co-operation.

The Big Lie about the elections haunts every corner of Iranian life, colouring everything the regime now does. Pussyfooting by the West has never been more inexcusable, or truth-telling more likely to find a receptive Iranian audience.