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April 20, 2006
Iran: nothing to fear but an oversupply of caviar and rugs
Earlier this week, Amir Taheri predicted that in the face of the IAEA's April 28th deadline for Iran to halt uranium enrichment, Iran might offer "confidence building measures" in the form of a temporary suspension of the enrichment process. Iran, Taheri said, wants to "play[] the diplomatic game for another two years until Bush becomes a "lame-duck", unable to take military action against the mullahs." This is Iran's vision for undermining support, in the US and around the world, for a military strike on Iran, while the Mullahs go their merry way, visions of Sharia-endorsed nukes dancing in their heads, developing a nuclear arsenal and then enhancing it.
Taheri's prediction makes plenty of sense, but one wonders why Tehran would feel any need to be so careful. Today Iran thumbed its nose at the IAEA, giving plenty more reason to doubt whether Tehran will bother even to play the diplomatic game. With just over a week left until Iran must pretend to comply, I get the sense Iran may not need any diplomatic games. After all, there is no support to undermine - the American left and the "international community" (even the UK) have decided the military option is not an acceptable one.
If you're Iran, why bother with deceptive diplomacy? Fear of being overrun by rugs and caviar? The rhetoric coming from Iran is that of a country that sees the US hamstrung, and foresees nothing to of concern.
Posted by bill at April 20, 2006 09:34 AM
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