Iran Defies UN Security Council

Iran continues to defy the UN Security Council, which imposed new sanctions last week.
Iran argues that it has a right to pursue nuclear technology for peaceful purposes. There are no signs that Iran will back down. Even its allies Russia and China are beginning to sense the urgency of the situation and are now publicly urging Iran to be more cooperative.

Like N. Korea, Iran is possibly planning to hold out until the very last minute, hoping to get the best deal possible. But for now, it appears that Iran is moving ahead with uranium enrichment more on principle (that they have the right to do it) rather than what is best for their relationship with the rest of the world.

This will only encourage the position of the warmongers in the Bush Administration, who are eager to use military force against Iran to take out its nuclear sites (which most analysts believe cannot be done with pinpoint airstrikes or special forces....and would do much more harm than good in the troubled Persian Gulf region).

Meanwhile, Iran is also continuing to hold 15 British Sailors that it says violated Iranian Waters near the Persian Gulf. There are now signs that diplomats on both sides may be looking for a way out of the standoff.

But this is certain to highten tensions. The U.S. and Britain will likely beef up their forces in the region.... hoping to spark a confrontation. I have always believed that any confrontation between the West and Iran would start with some incident with Naval forces in or near the Persian Gulf. The Iranian, U.S. and British Navies are crawling everywhere in the Persian Gulf, raising the risk of some kind of incident, through a mistake, misunderstanding or otherwise.

And the U.S. may use a Naval confrontation as a Gulf of Tonkin or Lusitania excuse to take broader military action and get us involved in another disastrous war. So this is playing right into the hands of the Chicken Hawks in the White House.