Obama's U.N. Friends 
August 23, 2012, 7:24 p.m. ET
WSJ
– HYPERLINK http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444812704577607790585187560.html?mod=googlenews_wsj \t _blank http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444812704577607790585187560.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
The Obama Administration has based its global security strategy around the United Nations, and these days that faith isn't turning out too well. Russia and China have blocked any collective security action in Syria, and now U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has decided to lend his prestige, such as it is, to Iran. 
Despite public requests from the U.S. and what press reports say was a personal plea from Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Mr. Ban has decided to attend a summit next week of the Non-Aligned Movement in Tehran. The U.N. chief will convey the clear concerns and expectations of the international community on Iran's nuclear program, its terrorism, human rights and Syria, according to a U.N. spokesman. 
That should be fun. Iran has rejected no fewer than six U.N. Security Council resolutions against its nuclear program, four of which included sanctions. Iran has lied repeatedly to U.N. nuclear inspectors, and it is defying most of the world again as it assists Syrian dictator Bashar Assad in murdering his own people. 
What Mr. Ban's visit will do is let Tehran show that it isn't nearly as isolated as President Obama claims it is. Not only can Iran host a meeting of some 120 countries despite U.N. sanctions, but the head of the U.N. itself is willing to show up and pay his public respects to the clerical regime. 
The bigger embarrassment here is to a U.S. President who has spent three years trying to engage Iran, then isolate it and engage it at the same time through the U.N., only to have the head of the U.N. give him the back of his hand. And to do so at a moment when Israeli leaders are trying to decide if their only hope of stopping an Iranian atomic bomb is to strike Iran on their own before the U.S. election. 
Mr. Obama said his diplomacy would enhance U.S. influence and create a safer, more stable Middle East. Instead, the region is more dangerous and may be sliding into another war because no one trusts U.S. resolve.