When Ronald Reagan was running for president in 1980, and Iran was holding 52 U.S. diplomats and civilians hostage, there was a joke making the circuit that went like this:

Q: What's flat as a pancake and glows in the dark? A: Iran, after Reagan becomes president.

Well, Reagan became president and within minutes - literally minutes - those hostages were put on a plane for their trip back to the U.S. But the joke was apparently not lost on the Islamic militants who had taken over Iran in 1979. Today, they are seeking all the ingredients for a nuclear arsenal and make what seems only half-hearted assertions it will be for "peaceful," rather than aggressive, purposes.

Here's what Iran President Khatami said last week:

"If our right is recognized and they admit that Iran can have access to peaceful nuclear technology and all the required provisions are made for banning the production of atomic bomb in the world, the issue will be settled."

Translation: Get Israel to give up its nukes, and then we'll talk. Maybe. In the meantime, we'll keep AQ Khan's birthday on our calendar and always remember to send him a card.

Right now, President Bush says we should keep up sanctions, and give the EU and U.N. the chance to pressure Iran into its senses. John Kerry says, yeah, but let's give them nuclear fuel, too.

Maybe there's a third way to handle this. It seems there's an information deficit in the Iranian countryside. Blogger Hossein Derakhshan, a native Iranian, says people in the country would likely oppose what Khatami's government is doing:

Needless to say that if people were aware of how easily this technology, if not curbed by the UN, could be used by the regime to produce nuclear weapons, and how such power could weaken the already humble foundations of democracy in Iran by giving more military power to the most radical and fundamentalist parts of the regime, they'd hardly be backing it as they do now – if we accept that they really are.

Maybe it's time to start letting the Iranian people know what's going on. Maybe it's time to feed them radio programming - or, more radio programming - from inside Iraq and clue them in on what's happening. Instead of nuclear fuel, send them radio waves. Instead of platitudes in French, give them realities in Farsi.

The Soviets fomented the 1979 Islamic revolution by bombarding the Iranians with anti-American, anti-Shah propoganda over the radio. This time, it couldn't hurt for the U.S. to try the same thing.

And if that doesn't work, well...Reagan is now gone, but Khatami need only look over the border and take a look at some of Abu al Zarqawi's safe houses these days.

That's no joke.