Investor's Business Daily, September 12th, 2007
Iran: With Germany declaring sanctions ineffective and the United Nations' nuclear agency wedded to diplomacy, Tehran is getting precious time to build a nuclear bomb. U.S. force may soon be unavoidable.
The room was reportedly stunned when representatives of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's government last week told U.N. Security Council member nations gathered in Berlin that her country would oppose further sanctions against Iran, citing their effects on the German economy and their futility in reining in Tehran's nuclear program.
As a result, economic sanctions may now be dead as a weapon against the fanatical Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's regime. That's unfortunate, because getting tough on Tehran with sanctions was the only way to avoid military action.
Serious economic pressure might even have sparked a popular uprising and overthrown the 28-year rule of the radical mullahs.
Russia and communist China share special blame for feeding Iran's ambitions to make nuclear weapons -- in spite of the threats a nuclear Iran would pose for the entire civilized world.
Beijing has used its position on the Security Council to block sanctions. The speculation is that Merkel privately welcomes moving beyond economic sanctions toward a definitive resolution of the Iran problem, namely a military strike.
The U.S. will now likely consider an oil and natural gas blockade against Iran's fragile economy, as well as the bombing of the country's nuclear facilities. The 125,000 members of the elite Iranian Revolutionary Guard will soon be officially classified as a terrorist group, along with its massive business network with foreign companies, as documented by the U.S.
Action against Iran would go beyond destroying its known nuclear facilities, entailing a week or more of bombing runs against air defenses before hitting the country's nuclear sites.
The University of London's Center for International Studies and Diplomacy recently surmised that the U.S. has "military preparations to destroy Iran's WMD, nuclear energy, regime, armed forces, state apparatus and economic infrastructure" because a lesser attack "would leave Iran too many retaliatory options."
As the world struggles to unite behind sanctions, Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), walked out of an IAEA meeting Tuesday. Why? European Union president Joaquim Duarte of Portugal complained about Iran failing to suspend uranium enrichment.
ElBaradei has secured what he characterizes as a "last chance" deal with Iran, and wants the world to wait until November or December before taking action to let Iran prove its good intentions.
"We will be able in two to three months to see whether Iran is implementing in good faith that work plan," according to ElBaradei.
But is ElBaradei merely giving Tehran crucial time to build a nuclear weapons capability? Ahmadinejad recently boasted Iran had reached 3,000 centrifuges, which if operating at full capacity for a year could enrich enough uranium to produce a nuclear weapon.
In a new study, "Iran's Proxy War Against America," Claremont Institute fellow Thomas Joscelyn says, "Contrary to widespread opinion, Iran has been a vital ally for bin Laden's international terrorist organization. The evidence is overwhelming."
Also overwhelming is the obligation of the free world to destroy this spoke in the axis of evil.
