It is official. Ahmadinejad announced:
“With great honor, I declare that as of today our dear country has joined the nuclear club of nations and can produce nuclear fuel on an industrial scale.”
Asked “if Iran has begun injecting uranium gas into 3,000 centrifuges for enrichment, top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani replied”… “Yes”.
He added:
“We are ready to reach understanding with the Westerners through a corridor of real negotiations _ in the current situation, in which Iran’s nuclear activities have been concluded… the understanding regards assuring the other party about the peacefulness of Iran’s nuclear activities, but we do not give in our rights.”
Gaius comments: “The West is running out of time to deal with Iran. The pirates in charge there have no fear at all of the UN or any other ‘transnational’ organization.”
As I have always said, if necessary the West should be prepared to use force. Iran cannot be allowed to have a nuclear weapon: even if the Mullahs would not use the bomb to wipe Israel off the map, as Ahmadinejad put it so eloquently, it would still create tremendous problems: it would radically change the balance of power in the region. Suddenly, Sunni countries would go after the bomb as well, terrorist organizations might get their hands on weapons we don’t want them to get their hands on, etc.
So what will happen? Conservatives will increase their calls on the U.S. / the West to do something. Most conservatives aren’t fond of the United Nations, to say the least, nor of sanctions, so they will push for the use of military force. Progressives, on the other hand, will point to Iraq and say that the U.S. military is overstretched as it is and that attacking Iran(‘s nuclear facilities) will create chaos and bring about instability. If something has to be done, they will argue, it has to be done through diplomacy, direct talks and, if necessary, sanctions.
Meanwhile, Iran will continue to expand its nuclear program.
Hopefully the West will be united before Ahmadinejad makes another major announcement.
I am also worried about what Israel will do. One thing is for sure: Israel is definitely of the opinion that a nuclear Iran poses an unacceptable threat to her own safety / security. The closer Iran will come to a nuclear bomb, and the longer it will take for the West to force Iran to suspend its program, the more Israelis will believe that Israel should strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities, just as she did against Iraq’s, back in the 1980’s.
Cross posted at my own blog.
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