Sanctions? What Sanctions?

The Opinion Journal takes a look at what is happening in Iran right now and then compares it to the bumbling approach the West is taking toward imposing sanctions on Iran for its continued pursuit of nuclear weapons. The failure of the West to do anything of any real use in sending a signal to Tehran will, in the end, cause more problems.

Iranians made their feelings plain about Mahmoud Ahmadinejad last week by voting to reject his allies in municipal elections and in the Assembly of Experts, a clerical body that theoretically has authority over Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. That doesn't mean reformers now run Iran, but it does suggest that international pressure and a policy of democracy promotion may produce the kinds of changes in Iran that three years of Western diplomacy have failed to achieve.

So it's all the more puzzling that, even as Iranians try to apply some pressure on Mr. Ahmadinejad, the international community is about to prove his point that Iran will pay little price for its quest to develop an atomic bomb. Consider what's happening at the U.N., where the Security Council is expected to approve a sanctions resolution this week, nearly four months after its August 31 "deadline" for Tehran to stop enriching uranium.

We've seen the latest draft of the resolution, hashed out among the U.S., the Europeans and Russia. Iran will be forbidden from importing any items or technical assistance "which could contribute to [its] enrichment-related, reprocessing or heavy water related activities, or to the delivery of nuclear weapon delivery systems." The resolution also imposes travel restrictions, and it freezes the financial assets of certain individuals involved in Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

As detailed in the editorial, there are actually more exceptions to the sanctions than there are sanctions. In the end they come down to nothing. The labor of mountains has give birth to a mouse, all in the name of consensus. All the good intentions merrily paving the path. We all know where that path is leading. As the editorial points out, we should be actively trying to foment change inside Iran. Making Ahmadinejad pay for his behavior is one way to accelerate that change. Letting him off the hook accomplishes the opposite.