A Bit About Iran.
ore sanctions are possible for Iran, over their nuclear program.
World powers met Friday to discuss a third U.N. Security Council resolution imposing additional sanctions against Iran for failing to suspend its uranium enrichment program.
(Snip! . . . )
The Security Council has repeatedly demanded that Iran suspend enrichment of uranium and has imposed limited sanctions on Tehran for refusing to comply. The United States has been trying to cut Iran off from the international financial system and the European Union is weighing its own unilateral sanctions.
Iran, of course, insists that they are seeking nuclear power for peaceful purposes, and that they have resolved the issue by going through the IAEA. The IAEA seems a little less sure of things, but still doesn’t seem to think that military action is necessary.
On December 23, 2006, the UN Security Council passed a resolution requiring Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment activities and requiring all UN members and the IAEA to impose certain sanctions on Iran. In January 2007 IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei proposed a “time out”, that Iran suspend enrichment related activity and the United Nations Security Council suspend sanctions simultaneously, with the aim to revive stalled negotiations. At its March 2007 meeting, the Board of Governors agreed to curtail Technical Cooperation activities with Iran, as recommended in the Director General’s February 9 report.
However, on September 7, 2007, ElBaradei argued against military action, saying: “We have not seen any weaponization of their program, nor have we received any information to that effect - no smoking gun or information from intelligence. Based on the evidence we have, we do not see … a clear and present danger that requires that you go beyond diplomacy.” (Source)
How much do you want to bet the the US will “find” evidence of Iran’s nuclear weapon program? I wonder if the “evidence” will be real this time or not. I wonder how many times this administration can cry wolf before we all stop listening. While you’re pondering that, check out Carol Ong at Iran Nuclear Watch, who is the Iran Policy Analyst for the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation. She has some good reading.
ETA: Tougher Sanctions On Iran Delayed:
Six major world powers agreed Friday to delay a vote on tougher sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program until December, after Tehran answers questions from the U.N. nuclear watchdog.
The United States and France had sought quick action on a third set of economic and political penalties and had hoped that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s defiant declaration at the U.N. this week that the issue was “closed” would add momentum to the process.
And that’s what I get for not posting this yesterday. Ah well. Carry on, folks.
(Photo credit: Blogs.Britannica.com.)
September 29th, 2007 at 1:05 pm
JAVA! you LOL’d Ahmad1nejad–about nukes! Thats ma gurl!
JavaElemental Reply:
September 30th, 2007 at 2:52 am
October 3rd, 2007 at 12:13 pm
Re Ahmadinejad, Iran ‘don’t have homosexuals like in your country.’,
Sounds like a Bushism to me. Now there’s a conspiracy theory for you.
JavaElemental Reply:
October 6th, 2007 at 11:56 am
Hi, Shrimper!
Well, as they hang anyone who gets caught in homosexual behavior, I’m sure at this point they probably don’t have any. 
I find it amusing — in a horrible sort of way — how much like the fundamentalist regimes that are supposedly so evil Bush sounds. And hardly anyone notices.