Iran continues to stand like a pesky middle finger on the hand of a precocious and defiant pre-teen who knows exactly how far to push, choosing sometimes to push even further just for fun or just to see what happens. Iran is that kind of middle finger, at least to the rest of the world. The bottom line is: Nobody wants Iran to have nuclear weapons. If they are this much of a pain in the behind right now, imagine if they actually had a nuclear weapon?

The U.S., Britain and France are all threatening new sanctions on Iran because of their nuclear plans, but China and Russia are saying that they are hesitant about new punitive steps. The classic split is coming to a head around this issue- showing the cracks in the U.N. Security Council as far as international approach.

"If it continues to refuse the slightest confidence measures, to refuse dialogue, transparency ... we must draw all of the necessary conclusions and that means that we must move on to a new resolution involving sanctions," said French U.N. Ambassador Gerard Araud.

"There is no longer any reason to wait.”

I think that sort of sums up the approach- there is no longer any reason to wait, right? This is an ongoing debate and there are the same issues on the table now as there were months ago- why should there be any more patience with Iran? What is going on is basically that they are thwarting UN attempts to regulate their nuclear program- they have very little respect for the regulations or sanctions that have been placed in the past, and the idea that they are still able to negotiate with the UN is somewhat absurd. Basically they need to bend to the desires of the world- that’s the bottom line.

"We make a last call to the Islamic Republic of Iran to respond to our offer of negotiation. If Iran doesn't do it on the short term, France will propose a new resolution of sanctions,” Araud continued.
Good on Araud for taking the hard line. Iran has lied to and manipulated the UN and there is, as he said, no reason to wait any longer to take the hard road. Iran needs to step back. We think you are trying to make nuclear weapons and your behavior over the past year indicates that you don’t want international monitoring of what you are doing- that means you can’t do anything at all. Deal with it.

"Should Iran continue to fail to meet its obligations, the international community will have to consider further actions," said U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice.

Nice and vague on details, but pretty clear about the basic bottom line- do what we tell you to do or you will be punished with sanctions. I would buck if I were Iran, too, but I can’t believe some of the SECURITY Council is actually backing them up.

The danger here is about an enduring crack in the Security Council, in my opinion- if they are not going to have a united front, no progress will ever be made on this issue.