Posted by
arandomguy on Wednesday, March 07, 2007 12:01:32 AM
According to IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei, Iran has continued to advance its uranium enrichment activities in spite of a "harshly worded" UN Security Council resolution from December of 2006. Baradei was to discuss this report, which was issued on February 22, in a meeting with the IAEA Board of Governors yesterday afternoon.
Baradei reports that Tehran has not suspended its programs, and furthermore that Iran, while providing some very marginal cooperation, has not allowed the IAEA to make any realistic progress in determining the reasons for Iran's uranium enrichment.
Iran on the other hand, has taken multiple measures to ensure that the IAEA's investigations meet as many roadblocks as possible. At the Natanz facility, which Iran has claimed will eventually house thousands of centrifuges - enough to produce dozens of nuclear weapons per year - Iran has banned IAEA monitored cameras that would keep track of enrichment activities, and has banned inspectors from the premises.
Is anybody still operating under the assumption that Iran is really after nuclear technology for purely peaceful purposes? I have no doubt Iran will use some of that nuclear technology for energy - besides Kim Jong Il, who wouldn't? - but that is not the primary focus of Iranian uranium enrichment. Iran wants nuclear weapons, and they want to use them to "wipe Israel off the map," in the words of their "esteemed" leader, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
What I'm sick and tired of, are UN security council resolutions that are just like Democratic non-binding resolutions. A lot of harsh words, but words that accomplish - and threaten to accomplish - nothing at all. "We're really upset with what you've done," is what UNSC resolutions come down to. We need some crippling sanctions on Iran, and we need them quickly. The only alternative is to destroy Iran in open warfare, if we are to prevent them from attaining nuclear weapons.
Yet these crippling sanctions won't be an option forever. Indeed, they will soon cease to be an option, if Israeli intelligence (traditionally extremely accurate) is to be believed. Once Iran crosses a certain threshold, nothing that we or anybody else does to them will matter, short of actually bombing their nuclear facilities. This may be what is necessary, but preventing Iran from attaining the ultimate weapons of destruction is far more important than any negative effects that may result from it.
Iran is dangerous, and must be dealt with before it is too late.