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Iran to Resist U.N. Pressure
Iran said today that the threat of United Nations sanctions would have no effect on its decision on whether to continue enriching uranium, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Aug. 11). “We are prepared for all (possible) scenarios and it [is] the West and especially the United States which will lose more, because we control the energy sources,” Elham added. Iran’s parliament speaker, Gholam-Ali Hadad-Adel, said yesterday that “Iran doesn’t accept suspending its uranium enrichment.” “If the result of our being part of international organizations and the International Atomic Energy Agency is to be deprived of our absolute right (in nuclear matters), there is no reason for us to continue to be part of such organizations,” he said (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, Aug. 14). Meanwhile, a top Chinese diplomat is expected in Tehran today for meetings on the nuclear standoff, Reuters reported. The Chinese Foreign Ministry announced that Assistant Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai would discuss the issue with Iranian officials (Reuters, Aug. 14). In Washington, Bush administration officials are convinced that hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon amount to a proxy war between the Unite States and Iran, the Financial Times reported on Saturday. It was no coincendence that the Hezbollah raid which sparked the current crisis in Lebanon came the day after Iran effectively turned down a U.S. offer of nuclear talks, according to U.S. officials. That view, however, has not been universally adopted. “We get clear indications the Bush administration sees this crisis in black and white terms,” said a senior European diplomat involved in U.N. negotiations over the Lebanon fighting. “There is a widespread view that U.S. diplomacy is a prisoner of its own starkly moral framework.” Meanwhile, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s argument for an earlier ceasefire was reportedly overruled by President George W. Bush. She and other foreign policy “realists” have argued that the United States should hold talks with Syria, which also backs Hezbollah, according to the Times. “Syria knows what we think,” Bush said this week. “They know exactly what our position is.” Some members of Bush’s own party have said that a refusal to talk to unfriendly regimes could spark a wider conflict. “There was no suggestion Bush wanted to know what Syria thinks,” said John Hulsman, a foreign policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation until last month. “This administration continues to believe talking is a sign of weakness. In spite of Iraq, the neocons are still in charge” (Edward Luce, Financial Times, Aug. 12).
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