Iran Repels US Threats at IAEA

Iran on Friday successfully stared down a new move by the US, France, Britain and Germany to push it to the wall despite a strongly worded, US-dictated report released by the International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General against its nuclear program.

Few qualified observers doubt the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear activities, but when Tehran saw the US and its western allies intensifying their antagonistic efforts very irrationally, it ran circles round them and made these powers lose their face in the eyes of China, Russia and other world countries.

After two days of closed meetings, the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) Board of Governors approved a weak resolution expressing concern about Iran’s nuclear program. Russia and China voted in favor because the resolution did not reprimand Tehran or threaten new sanctions through the UN’s Security Council in New York. Iran’s representative immediately denounced it as biased and vowed that his country would pursue “work with further determination”.

But, analysts even in the West believe that no UN resolutions or sanctions is likely to get Tehran to back down since all the key domestic players support its nuclear program. The Iranian nation has convinced the world that it is a united, determined nation and will never bow to Western pressure.

In any event, US-led military action is not on the table, despite rhetoric about nothing being off the table. Severe economic sanctions, such as blocking sale of Iranian oil or stopping all bank transactions, are unlikely to work because many world states, including China and India, are hungry for Iranian oil and gas and Russia does not want to lose Tehran to China by backing the West.

So the only remaining option for the West is recognizing Iran’s rights and trying to work out friendly relations with Iran which has now emerged as a regional power, while many believe that it turn into a world power in the next decade.