Is the U.N. Worth It?

Opposition to the United States’ membership in the United Nations is growing among conservatives. One main reason is the burgeoning influence of Iran in the organization and the increasing tendency of the U.N. to interfere with internal affairs of its 193 member states—an activity that is strictly prohibited by its organizational mandate.

The United States pays about $6 billion to the U.N. yearly for our membership in the U.N. Iran pays $9 million for its membership.

Iran is the present head of the second largest voting bloc in the U.N. General Assembly, the Non-Aligned Movement. As such, Iran wields strong influence over the other 120 countries in that bloc. Iran is the leader of that caucus and often speaks as representative of all those General Assembly voters. The Non-Aligned Movement contains countries that are supposedly not aligned with any major super powers. It often votes in opposition to the wishes of the United States.

Four times, the United Nations Security Council has sanctioned Iran for its illicit nuclear activities; and four times, Iran has ignored the sanction. Despite this, Iran has been granted seats on governing boards of many major U.N. agencies. Some of these agencies handle billions of dollars every year in funds donated chiefly by Western nations, especially the U.S. This year, Iran won a three-year seat on the 36 member executive board of the U.N’s flagship agency, the U.N. Development Program, which operates billion-dollar budgets across more than 170 countries.

It seems doubtful to me that further membership in the United Nations is in the best interests of the United States. I think we should get out and look more closely to our own interests, instead of bowing to leadership such as Iran and other rogue countries.