Common Folk Using Common Sense

The U.N. Security Council has set a Friday deadline for Iran to suspend enrichment of uranium, a process that can produce fuel for nuclear reactors or material for warheads. If Iran does not comply the Council has threatened to impose sanctions.

Suspicions about Iran’s intentions have grown since it was discovered in 2002 that the country had for two decades secretly operated large- scale nuclear activities that could be used in weapons making.

Several months ago, Tehran announced it would not honor the International Atomic Energy Agency’s so-called “additional protocol,” which gave the agency increased and more thorough inspection powers.

In response Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said that the country is ready to transfer its nuclear technology to other countries, threatened to halt all cooperation with the U.N. atomic energy agency, and said it might hide its nuclear program.

Khamenei has shown intolerance toward anyone questioning his strident anti-West and fundamentalist Islamic policies. On the 2000 al-Quds Day Khamenei called for the destruction of Israel, saying it was the only way to solve the problems of the Middle East.

Khamanei has shut down the free press, tortured journalists and ordered the execution of homosexual males. Nice guy.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad boldly predicted the Security Council would not impose sanctions and warned he was thinking about dropping out of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

After Ahmadinejad’s 2005 election he proclaimed, “Thanks to the blood of the martyrs, a new Islamic revolution has arisen and the Islamic revolution of 1384 [the current Iranian year] will, if God wills, cut off the roots of injustice in the world.” He said, “The wave of the Islamic revolution will soon reach the entire world.”

In October 2005 Ahmadinejad gave a speech opposing Zionism that contained antagonistic statements about the State of Israel. He agreed with a statement he attributed to Khomeini that the “occupying regime” must be wiped off the map or eliminated. He also referred to Israel as a “disgraceful stain [in] the Islamic world.”

In December 2005 Ahmadinejad also made several controversial statements regarding the Holocaust and the State of Israel, at one point referring to the Holocaust as a “myth”.

In an April 2006 speech Ahmadinejad described Israel as the epicenter of a threat to the entire Muslim world. Ahmadinejad also compared Israel to a dying tree, contrasting it to the young blooming tree that he considers the Palestinian resistance.

The International Atomic Energy Agency says it has since found no direct evidence of an arms program, but it also says the Iranians have not been fully forthcoming. After repeated attempts at negotiations, the IAEA reported Iran to the Security Council for noncompliance. The council then gave Iran until Friday to suspend enrichment. On Tuesday Tehran’s top nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, said flatly that Iran would not abide by Friday’s deadline.

Ali Larijani is an Iranian politician, the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) since August 14, 2005. He was also the previous president of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (private broadcasting is forbidden). In the 1980s, Ali Larijani was acting head of the Revolutionary Guards.

But what difference does any of this make to you? How much of this did you know before reading this post? Does Iran having nukes bother you? Would you care if he sold a few nukes to some of his friends – those that share his “destroy Israel” or “kill Americans” wishes? Does it bother you that there is absolutely nothing the UN can or will do about Iran building nukes?

Yet Americans are gripped with anxiety over who is going to come out on top on American Idol this week.

Security Council, nuclear, Iran, sanctions, weapon, Tehran, Khamenei, Ahmadinejad, Islam, Israel, Larijani

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