Iran Calls Security Council’s Bluff

Yesterday was the deadline the UN Security Council set for Iran to comply with its July 31 resolution calling on the Islamic Republic to halt enrichment of uranium. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency’s report to the UNSC, Iran hasn’t done so. The next step might be economic sanctions against Iran, which won’t work. Or maybe Iran faces a stern lecture. The Pentagon believes Tehran won’t have The Bomb for another five years, and there isn’t much anyone can do to stop it.

The IAEA report, which was leaked to Reuters, read in part, “Iran has not suspended its enrichment related activities. Iran has not addressed the long outstanding verification issues or provided the necessary transparency to remove uncertainties associated with some of its activities.” In short, Iran has rejected the UNSC’s demands. Just before the deadline passed, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on state radio, “The Iranian nation will never abandon its obvious right to peaceful nuclear technology.” He added, “Arrogant powers are against Iran's peaceful nuclear progress. Their pretext and claim is that Iran's peaceful nuclear knowledge might be diverted [into nukes] one day. It is a big lie.”

Lie or not, there’s the rub. Under international law, every nation on the planet is entitled to peaceful nuclear technology, that is, fission reactors. Iran, which is a pile of dirt on top of a sea of oil, has less need of it than other states. And wiping Israel off the map would be easier to do with nuclear weapons, to say nothing of deterring a US attack on Tehran’s mullahs.

Standing in front of the American Legion in Utah, Mr. Bush said, “It is time for Iran to make a choice. We’ve made our choice. We will continue to work closely with our allies to find a diplomatic solution, but there must be consequences for Iran’s defiance, and we must not allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon.” Unfortunately, Mr. Bush has no hand to play here, but he may not realize it.

Economic sanctions can only come from a UNSC resolution, and Russia and China have said that they are loathe to impose such. As far as they are concerned, a nuclear Iran is a worry, but seeing American influence and power fail in the region offers them long-term benefits that outweigh having another nuclear power in their neighborhood (after all, India, Pakistan and Israel all have The Bomb). At very least, they can squeeze Mr. Bush on other fronts in exchange for not vetoing sanctions, like Ukraine being denied NATO membership, or the Chinese getting their own way on trade issues.

US Ambassador to the UN, John Bolton, has stated that if the UN won’t impose sanctions, the US will create a coalition of nations to impose them anyway. While not mentioning it, the model appears to be the US embargo on Cuba. It ought to sweep Fidel Castro out of office any decade now.

© Copyright 2006 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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