US in warning to 'defiant' Iran
It would appear that Bush and his cohorts, this time led by Condi Rice, seem determined to have some kind of confrontation with Iran, rather than to admit that Iran is currently operating within her rights under the nuclear non-proliferation programme and seeking to ensure that she remains within those perimiters and does not extend her nuclear programme to include a nuclear bomb capability.
This, to me, would seem the sensible route. Accept that Iran is entitled to nuclear energy and work to establish a series of inspections to ensure her nuclear programme cannot escalate.
This does not, from Condi's truculence, appear to be the route America has chosen to take.
From the BBC:Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the UN Security Council would have to look at options to compel Iran to "obey the international system".
She then threatened that the council would have to consider a Chapter 7 resolution - a Chapter 7 resolution carries the threat of war.
She said that when the council reconvened on the issue at the end of the month there could not be a repeat of March's "presidential statement" in which Iran had been told to halt all sensitive atomic activities within 30 days.
Iran has so far refused to comply.
"There will have to be some consequence for that action and that defiance. We will look at a whole range of options available to the Security Council," Ms Rice said.
Iran has so far refused to comply because we are asking her to give up an Iranian right established in an international treaty.
Thankfully, there are more sensible heads than that of Miss Rice contributing to the debate, although it remains highly questionable whether the Americans can be persuaded to depart from their current course.On his visit, Mr ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said he had had a good discussion about "confidence-building measures".
That, is the sensible way forward, the question is: is America seeking a solution or is she merely looking for a way to legitimise confrontation?
He said there was still time to negotiate a settlement by which "Iran's needs for nuclear power is assured and the concern of the international community is also... put to rest".
On her present course the US is heading towards one of two unwelcome outcomes. A humiliating showdown at the UN when Russia and China refuse to sanction Iran, possibly leading to option two; US military action against Iran with unforeseeable consequences, none of them good, for US interests in the broader Middle East.
It is time for the US to stop the tiresome Bush policy of browbeating, which hasn't worked for him since he came to office, and adopt a more conciliatory tone.
Click here for BBC story.
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1 comment:
its time to nuke these godless animals. the real trick is kill most of the women and children wipe out a generation and start over.
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