Iran, the EU-3, and the UN

What in the world is going on with the Iran nuclear situation? It seems like the rhetoric is getting more heated, and no resolution is near. In mid October, it was Iran that was putting a freeze on negotiations with the EU-3 of Britain, France and Germany.

At that time, the EU was expected to take the matter to the UN Security Council. Of course, given the recent history of this particular entity, Iran seemed to be repeating the "Divide and Conquer" strategy that the Iraq situation proved to be quite successful diffusing any UN authority in the matter.

"There is no judicial or legal reason to send the Iranian dossier to the Security Council," Asefi asserted. "Many countries have this view," he said, mentioning China and Russia as examples...

In September, Beijing abstained from voting on an IAEA resolution that found Iran to be in non-compliance with the NPT, and is eager not to see the tensions with Iran escalate. Perhaps this has something to do with the amount of oil China is currently importing from Iran.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also said Saturday that Moscow saw no reason to put the Iranian nuclear issue to the UN Security Council as sought by Washington. Perhaps this has something to do with tha contracts that Russia has to provide nuclear facilities in Iran.

But hopefully, there is reason for optimism in this whole debacle...

Yesterday, the EU rejected calls by Russia for the resumption of talks with Iran (proposed to have taken place in Moscow). Of course the hope is that this message is heard not only by Iran, but also Russia and China. The greater world good, must prevail over the financial concerns of Russia, China, and others for that matter. When the President of Iran indicates that (god willing) it is the hope of Iran for Israel to be wiped off the face of the earth, nuclear weapons in the hands of this regime is not a good thing!

"We seriously applied for continuing negotiations (with the E.U.) as requested by the board of governors (of the International Atomic Energy Agency), if the others rejected, then they should also be held responsible for the consequences," Iranian chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani said Friday.

Meanwhile, thousands of Iranians staged anti-U.S. demonstrations at the nuclear enrichment plant in Natanz in central Iran Friday, demanding the start of uranium enrichment in the plant.

Clearly, this situation is getting quite serious, and a unified front is more necessary than at any other time in the process. The US is on the sidelines during these "negotiations," but we are still the target for the Iranian anger. I suppose we will bear that burden, and it's somewhat encouraging that the EU seems to have developed a degree of resolve in this matter.