iran stands its ground…
September 1st, 2006I was quite surprised with how Iran has handled itself in the last few months, and quite recently when the deadline passed today to halt uranium enrichment. In defiance to UN/US demands, the Iranian president was quoted as saying “The Iranian nation will never abandon its obvious right to peaceful nuclear technology” and also, that the west “should know the Iranian nation will not yield to pressure and not accept any violation of its rights.”
At first I thought it was only rhetoric coming from the Islamic republic in response to Whitehouse statements made about their nuclear ambitions. Now I’m beginning to realize that there is some truth to what President Ahmedinejad is saying. This isn’t simply rhetoric, its the real thing. These guys aren’t going to back down any time soon. What does the US think about that? Well they are of the thinking that they already let one hostile country obtain the nuclear know-how (namely, North Korea) and now controlling them is harder than ever. They can’t just go into N. Korea and bomb the crap out of them because N. Korea now has an “Ace” card which pretty much acts as a deterrent. Unlike Iraq which didn’t have one, and we all know what is going on there.
Iran says it must fulfill its own energy requirements. The US claims otherwise, thinking uranium enrichment in Iran will be used for nuclear bombs. So what will the US do in order to stop Iran from enriching Uranium and obtaining the same Ace card the North Koreans so proudly flaunt. I’m not sure myself, but I’m wondering if there is a possibility for another war, only this time against Iran? The US already has so many troops in the area and it wouldn’t be too hard to re-deploy them next door, I don’t think at least. Another option for them is to impose sanctions. Recall, however, that the US initially imposed sanctions on Iraq also, but they supposedly didn’t work and so the US invaded the country because of a fear of “WMDs”. So, now the ultimate question: Will history be repeating itself? As it stands, it doesn’t look like Iran is going to back down any time soon, bombs or no bombs, sanctions or no sanctions.
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“If India builds the bomb, we will eat grass or leaves, even go hungry, but we will get one of our own. We have no other choice.” - Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, then Pakistani Foreign Minister, 1965
“The US already has so many troops in the area and it wouldn’t be too hard to re-deploy them next door”
- I think they’re spread pretty thin in the region right now, and re-deploying is no easy task without creating wide open holes where they have no troops. I think this is the main reason the US hasnt done anything - they need other countries to step in with their troops to have a sufficient number of allies in the area to make any sort of move.
you’re probably right, they are stretched out pretty thin in that region… as for allies in the area, i’m not sure if any country would be willing to pick a fight with Iran… unlike Iraq, Iran has strategic partnerships with countries like Russia, India and China, and even some European countries. So yeah, maybe that’s why the US hasn’t really stepped up their game plan yet.