Banging the Drums

Iran continues to issue statements calling for Israel's annihilation and calls Israel a threat. Ahmadinejad dismisses the US call for strong UN action even as the media leaks stories that the US is prepping for nuclear strikes.

Iran knows that it can make these kinds of statements with impunity because it sees just how weak and toothless the Europeans and UN are. And the Administration knows this as well, and is looking to pursue a diplomatic solution even though it looks like that is doomed to failure as well. The Iranians are a student of recent history and know that time is on their side. Every day of delay is another day closer to having sufficient nuclear materials to make nuclear weapons.

The US considers sanctions or other economic actions.

The United States will push its allies next week to consider punitive measures against Iran that include a freeze on assets, targeted sanctions and visa restrictions, the State Department said on Friday.

Political directors from the main powers involved in trying to rein in Iran's nuclear programs are due to meet in Moscow on Tuesday to discuss what action to take after Tehran announced this week it had become a nuclear power by enriching uranium.

The senior officials from France, Germany, Britain, the United States, Russia and China will look at "real actions" that the United Nations can take to get Iran to change its behavior, said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.

The options include asset freezes, a Chapter 7 resolution under the U.N. charter, sanctions and travel restrictions on some members of the Iranian government, said McCormack.

Have no fear, the UN is here. Or not. Relying on UN to enforce sanctions is a real bad idea (see also UN oil for food scandal - aka UNSCAM). And the fact that Russia and China are doing everything within their power to avert any kind of action against their latest client, expect no action on this front that will have any meaningful effect whatsoever.

Meanwhile, the UN's nonproliferation control agency - the IAEA - has been completely unable to stop Iran's pursuit of nuclear power and weapons technologies. Iran can now openly and overtly make the push towards nuclear weapons knowing that the UN and IAEA are toothless and unable to act.

Oh, and did the US somehow provide Iran with the means to make their nuclear program possible? That's the implication of this particular article, which is based on James Risen's book State of War. If Risen's name sounds familiar, it's because he's the NYT reporter who was involved in the NSA story that the Times broke ahead of Risen's own book release (which was subsequently moved up to capitalize on the breaking story). While so many people were focused on the supposed legal problems of the NSA program, this particular episode slipped under the radar. It looks like it's time to reevaluate the details of this episode, code named Operation Merlin.

Others commenting on Iran's latest statements: Vodkapundit, Riehl World View, Gina Cobb, AJ Strata, and Stop the ACLU.

Technorati: iran, uranium, nuclear proliferation, iaea, us, un.