Informed Speculation

Yesterday, the UN Security Council agreed to issue a non-binding, ‘pretty please with sugar on top’ request to the IAEA to report back in 30 days on Iran’s non-compliance (and that’s no typo) with demands that it stop uranium enrichment.

No need, because Iran has already categorically rejected the toothless proposal 29 days early:

In Vienna, Iran’s chief representative to the IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, told The Associated Press that “it is impossible to go back to suspension.”

“This enrichment matter is not reversible,” Soltanieh said.

Predictably, our UN cohorts, with the notable exception of Britain, are scrambling to pretend not to notice:

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the issue of sanctions was not discussed at the meeting and were not supported by Moscow.

“Russia on principle doesn’t think sanctions can achieve a settlement, especially in the Middle East where there’s so much going on,” he said.

Lavrov’s remarks were echoed by China’s Vice Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo, who called for a “peaceful solution” and added there was “too much turmoil” in the region.

“This issue is among the most difficult and complicated in today’s world, it requires time, persistence and wisdom, and it can only be resolved through peaceful means,” Dai said.

‘Unilateral negotiation’ is another way of saying ‘appeasement’. We should move, with or without the support of Britain, to begin the steps that lead to a break in diplomatic relations and the imposition of sanctions. The alternative is to acqueisce to a tragedy; we’ll just have to deal with the spike in oil prices that would probably result…

UPDATE 11:32 a.m.: Carne Ross, writing in the Washington Post, is skeptical of the ability of sanctions to succeed, but says to even have a chance, they must be limited in scope and vigorously enforced…