Kofi wants more talks with Iran. And then some more.

The ineffectual leader of an ineffectual organization has just made another ineffectual statement:

The world should not isolate Iran over its nuclear program, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in an interview published Tuesday. Annan, however, said Tehran must take steps to reassure the international community that it is not aiming to build an atomic weapon.

"The international community should not isolate Iran," Annan told the Madrid daily El Pais in an interview during his stop in Doha, Qatar, after visiting Iran over the weekend.

Annan has made clear he wants a negotiated solution to the impasse, which deepened after Iran ignored an Aug. 31 UN Security Council deadline to stop its uranium enrichment program. That set the stage for possible UN economic and political sanctions.

Annan said confrontation with the Security Council "will not be in Iran's favor or that of the region." The UN chief on Sunday met with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who told him that Iran favored talks over its nuclear program but would not halt uranium enrichment before entering negotiations as demanded by the West.

Like the professional diplomat he is, he allowed Iran to decide exactly what it wants to do and he then supports them publicly, as they defy the deadlines that his organization set. Years of stonewalling and lying and deception by Iran are rewarded by Kofi Annan, as he gives the Iranians exactly what they want - more time to develop the atom bomb.

One can be sure that after Iran's first nuclear bomb test, Annan will favor continued negotiations and assurances that Iran has no plans to use it against any other nation, except Israel. But only a small one.