US imposes sweeping sanctions on Tehran

The fact that the rest of the world don't share George Bush's almost maniacal desire for confrontation with Iran was highlighted yesterday when Bush was forced to impose unilateral sanctions against the Iranians because the Chinese and the Russians refused to support tough sanctions against Iran through the Security Council.

It was only last week that Bush was talking about his desire to "isolate" Iran in the hope of bringing about "regime change", and now, ironically, it is Bush who finds himself without international support.

The Bush regime have never produced a scintilla of evidence to support their claims that Iran are seeking to develop a nuclear weapon and I am very pleased that the international community have decided to deny Bush's more extreme claims any legitimacy in the absence of actual proof.

Indeed, Putin went further than he has ever gone before in describing the absurdity of Bush taking this action at a time when he claims to be seeking a diplomatic solution.

The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, underscored the divisions in the international community yesterday, when he criticised the sanctions move, saying it would make a negotiated settlement harder to achieve. "Why worsen the situation by threatening sanctions and bring it to a dead end?" he said. "It's not the best way to resolve the situation by running around like a madman with a razor blade in his hand."

And Rice who, among this administration of "madmen running around with razor blades in their hands", is seen as the pragmatist; stepped forward to repeat the oft told lie:

"Unfortunately the Iranian government continues to spurn our offer of open negotiations."

There is, of course, no such offer on the table. What "the madmen" are offering are negotiations once the Iranians stop enriching uranium. Which sort of defeats the whole point of having negotiations in the first place. The Iranians are doing nothing illegal. But Bush is insisting that they give up their legal activity before he will even agree to negotiations to discuss it. It's repeat of the very successful technique he employed towards North Korea which resulted in them developing and testing a nuclear weapon. At which point Bush reversed everything he had previously said about the regime and came to a deal.

President George Bush has said repeatedly that a military strike is an option. As part of a multi-billion-dollar request for more military spending earlier this week, the Pentagon asked for $88m to develop the Massive Ordnance Penetrator, a huge bunker-busting bomb, for its Stealth bombers.

The Bush administration said the bomb was needed "in response to an urgent operational need for theatre commanders".

Democratic members of Congress questioned whether the weapon was intended for use against Iran, whose nuclear facilities are largely hidden underground.

Jim Moran, a Democratic member of the House of Representatives' defence spending committee, said: "My assumption is that it is Iran, because you wouldn't use them in Iraq, and I don't know where you would use them in Afghanistan, it doesn't have any weapons facilities underground that we know of."

So Bush continues to push for conflict with Iran, upping the ante both militarily and economically, although it is interesting to note that the international community are distancing themselves from what Putin refers to as the "madman".

The US is now targeting the Revolutionary Guard Corps and calling the al-Quds unit of the guards a terrorist organisation. The US has never before in its history taken such measures against the armed forces of an independent government.

Either Bush has more vision than any previous occupant of his office, or we are dealing with what Putin refers to as "a madman".

I've never heard of an American President being referred to in this way by an ally, and it's interesting to note that Putin will not be isolated for this remark; indeed, I imagine the rest of the international community will wish that they were as powerful as Putin and could join him in speaking with such candour.

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Tags: Bush, Putin, Iran, sanctions, Revolutionary Guard Corps, al-Quds