It would be hard today to find even one country that thinks the reunification of Germany was a bad idea. Yet, in 1989 when German Chancellor Helmut Kohl first floated the concept, it met with strenuous opposition from two of America's closest European allies--Margaret Thatcher's Britain, and Francois Mitterrand's France. In one of the triumphs of American diplomacy, the national security team then in the White House---President, George H. W. Bush, Secretary of State, James Baker, and National Security Advisor, Brent Scowcroft, recognized the long term benefits of a unified Germany for the stability and security of Europe--a key United States national interest, and offered immediate support.
President Bush and his team worked hard to convince America's allies to support the reunification plan. It was not easy, and as the team quickly found out, words were not enough. As James Baker told me some years ago,
"Germany would never have been unified if the United States had not pressured the British, our closest allies. We pressured the French, and we pressured the Soviet Union, to take advantage of the window of opportunity and unify Germany."
This American leadership took enormous political capital and strained long-standing relationships, but, as history has shown, it was what had to be done.
In a replay of the nineteen-nineties, the United States now faces entrenched opposition to the Iran nuclear agreement from Israel and Saudi Arabia, two of America's long-time allies in the Middle East. It is to President Obama's credit that he has taken on the challenge of ensuring that opposition from the two countries does not derail an agreement that is clearly a vital American national interest. If the cold, hard facts of the case are not enough to convince Israel and Saudi Arabia that the agreement will result in a more stable and secure Middle-East and a safer world, President Obama should take a page from the Bush-Baker-Scowcroft lesson and use whatever pressure is necessary to ensure that the Iran nuclear deal succeeds.
To reconnect Iran into the global community of nations is a vital American national interest. The country of 77 million people has been cast asunder for too long. Iran is an old and sophisticated country. It has no history of invading its neighbors for centuries. Its people are a talented lot: as The Economist of July 18, 2015 pointed out, there are more American PhDs in the Iranian President's Cabinet than there are in President Obama's.
Circumstances and internal politics have kept Iran and the United States at daggers drawn for decades. But as is increasingly obvious, there can be no real solutions to the most critical problems that beset the Middle East, without the help of Iran. America (or its European allies) cannot successfully deal with the splintering of Iraq, the fragmentation of Syria, or the emergence of the Islamic State, without the help of Iran. All these issues are in Iran's neighborhood, and their management is an Iranian national interest.
It is worth pointing out, as does the same issue of The Economist cited above that,
"...Iran has been a more reliable partner for America than its Arab allies. It acquiesced in the toppling of the Taliban in Afghanistan...and co-operates on the ground in Iraq against the Islamic State. America and Iran worked together to replace the Iraqi prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki...Iranian officials hold out the prospects of a gas pipeline via Turkey to Europe, easing Europe's dependency on Russian gas."
After a century of having its borders and its politics dictated by Western powers, the Middle-East is reorganizing itself, by shedding the artificial borders and countries set up a century ago by France and Britain, for their commercial and colonial ends. This process of reorganization will not be pretty, as is already obvious: witness, for instance, the emergence of the Islamic State and its success in carving out a territory for itself from Iraq and Syria. More dramatic change will undoubtedly follow.
It is vital for United States' interests in the Middle East that America have a chance to try and influence the new emerging Middle East. The road to this opportunity passes through Tehran. That is why the Obama Administration must do whatever is necessary to ensure the success of the nuclear agreement with Iran. Nothing should be off the table, including pressure to convince America's Middle East allies that blocking the deal is not an option.