UN Security Council bows to US pressure for a statement against Iran

John Bolton, the US ambassador to the UN, immediately seized on the vote as “an unambiguous signal to Iran that the Security Council, charged with the maintenance of international peace and security under the Charter, is now dealing with the issue.” Ruling out any possibility of compromise, he belligerently warned that the US would be “back on the 31st day” in the UN Security Council “given the Iranian record to date of consistently flouting the International Atomic Energy Agency.”

The UN statement is riddled with the same glaring contradictions and rank hypocrisy as the preceding IAEA resolutions on Iran’s nuclear programs pushed through by the Bush administration. It begins by “reaffirming its commitment” to the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and to the right of all states “without discrimination” to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. It then, however, goes on to express “serious concern” over Iran’s decision to resume research into uranium enrichment, even though such activities are not banned under the NPT.

Three years of intrusive IAEA inspections have failed to produce any conclusive proof that Iran is seeking to produce nuclear weapons. Lack of evidence, however, has not stopped the US from insisting that Iran not only suspend, but completely abandon, its research and development of uranium enrichment as part of plans for an extensive nuclear energy program. Washington has steadily backed Tehran into a corner, at each turn dismissing its efforts to comply with the IAEA and raising provocative new objections.

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http://wsws.org/articles/2006/mar2006/iran-m31.shtml