Iran announced today that the recent incentives provided by the United States and European Union to induce Iran to abandon its so-called nuclear fuel program would not convince the Islamic Republic to “give up its right” to “peaceful nuclear technology.” U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that her government would allow Iran to begin negotiations for entry into the World Trade Organization and would consider allowing it to purchase airline parts if the member of the ‘Axis of Evil’ complied.
The European Union believes that these are key concessions that will hopefully get Iran on board. The EU was unable to make such offers without the support of Washington, according to Reuters. The European Union “Big Three” — Britain, Germany, and France — have said that they would support the American demands to send the case to the UN Security Council if it comes to that, though currently both sides of the Atlantic are hoping that diplomatic channels will prevail.
Iran claims that the incentives are meaningless, because they never should have been imposed in the first place. Iran Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said that “Lifting [the restrictions on Iran’s acquisition of aircraft spare parts] is no concession and entering the WTO is a clear right of all countries.” Aseft continued, “correcting some (previous) errors and lifting some restrictions imposed on Iran without reason will not stop Iran from acquiring its legitimate rights.”
Iran’s means of assuring the world it has nothing to fear? Its own “objective guarantees” that the nuclear program will be used for peaceful purposes, and submission to UN weapons inspections that have worked so well in the Middle East in the past. The US/EU connection has maintained that such a conditional fuel production program is not acceptable. Slowplay believes this to be the correct — in fact, the only logical — stance on this issue, given the fact that Iran has been prone to using thinly veiled threats to, for instance, finish its nuclear program “under a mountain” if attacked by coalition forces. (See also Slowplay.com: “Laughable: Iran will accelerate nuclear program if attacked“.)
Slowplay’s take
Iran’s leadership is “hardlining”, in the style of the Soviet Union, in an attempt to set up some sort of Cold War-style dialectic between the West and nations like Iran and North Korea. By talking tough, the Iranian government seems to believe that it can rally the support of the anti-American movement in the Middle East and lead the charge against the Great Satan. Why any nation would want to do this, given the fact that President Bush has shown America quite willing to preempt a potential threat.
The case for invading Iran is arguably stronger now than the case for invading Iraq was in 2003, and we all know how that turned out. Why the Iranians would want to vex the Western World now is beyond me. I can only hope that this sort of rhetoric exposes the mullahs’ lunacy to the masses in the Middle East and that the citizens of Iran will take action to save their country from what looks like a surefire date with oblivion. While some anti-war types will certainly object if the United States appears to head down a path toward another war, I’m sure that the president will give Iran the same “don’t make us do this” warning to the mullahs he gave to the Husseins. We can only hope that, if that day comes, the mullahs learn from history.
Nathan Novak at 12:45 pm
