Friday, November 25, 2005

Iran's quandary

Despite a tactical delay in referring Teheran to the Security Council offered by the IAEA, Iran is cautiously backtracking. It could be the usual stalling technique, but could also mean that, for all their bragging, the threat of sanctions is working, especially in view of Russia's and China's positions moving closer to that of the US. It may also signals that Ahmadinejad is getting weaker and Rafsanjani is using his considerable power to soften Iran's stance.

An interesting piece on Iranians, their hopes and fears:

For the second thing you find if you go there is that many Iranians, especially among the two-thirds of the population who are under 30, hate their regime much more than we do. Given time, and the right kind of support from the world's democracies, they will eventually change it from within. But most of them think their country has as much right to civilian nuclear power as anyone else, and many feel it has a right to nuclear arms. These young Persians are pro-democracy and rather pro-American, but also fiercely patriotic.

An important message the west should broadcast loud and clear to the Iranian people, is that the world is not denying Iran the right to civilian nuclear power, is denying it to Iran's present regime.

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