Drawing a Bullseye

Iran has been toying with drawing targets on its metaphorical chest for some time, but this time they've unambiguously done it:

"We won't accept any new obligations," Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi told reporters. "Iran has a high technical capability and has to be recognized by the international community as a member of the nuclear club," he said. "This is an irreversible path."

Iran must be thinking that it can cause enough instability in Iraq, with Syria's and al Qaeda's help, to keep the US busy until they can enrich sufficient materials for a nuclear warhead. That's not a bet to make lightly, and Iran's only hopes of avoiding a US invasion in the next two years are a Kerry victory or an internal revolution, both of which are at least plausible, but the latter obviously is not preferable to the Ayatollahs.

Oh, and whomever sold the centrifuge parts and magnets can expect some serious economic payback, should the US ever get serious about stopping proliferation, to the point we would sanction a European country over the issue.

Posted by Jeff at June 13, 2004 06:49 PM | Link Cosmos