ID :
212823
Sat, 10/15/2011 - 11:44
Auther :

Iran’s Free Hand

Tehran, Oct 15, IRNA – US Vice President Joe Biden says `nothing has been taken off the table” in retaliating against Iran for its alleged involvement in an assassination plot in Washington.

If only that was true. The whole problem in dealing with Iran is that plenty has been taken off the table, and Tehran knows it. The United States is not about to attack, despite repeated pleas from Saudi Arabia. Diplomatic cables released last year by WikiLeaks included communications from King Abdullah to Washington, repeatedly urging the United States to `cut off the head of the snake’ by launching military strikes against Iran’s nuclear program.

It didn’t happen, and probably won’t happen now. All US President Barack Obama needs, with an economic disaster on his hands, a hostile Congress and an election a year away, is another Middle Eastern adventure involving US troops.

Israel might be willing to take on Tehran, but that would inevitably drag the United States into the blowback. For that reason, Washington is unlikely to offer Israel either its blessing or the technical cooperation the latter would need to maximize the effectiveness of a conventional attack on Iran’s nuclear program.

Sanctions are similarly futile. The United States has had sanctions on Iran since the Reagan administration, and the results are there for all to see. The United Nations has agreed to several rounds of sanctions in efforts to curb the Iranian nuclear program, without success.

Individual countries, including the United States, Canada and Australia, have imposed further sanctions, as has the European Union. The mullahs thus far remain unimpressed.

Now Washington wants an even tougher sanctions regime, but the UN, predictably, is balking. China and Russia, both Security Council members, aren’t enthusiastic. China in particular, has extensive energy dealings with Tehran it would be loath to see jeopardized.

It’s also the world’s biggest foreign holder of US debt, with almost $1.2 trillion as of July, a quarter of the world total.

So no matter what Biden says, the options against Tehran are limited. The international community will be of no help. An until America addresses the political and economic troubles it faces, it will not be able to act alone against Iran, according to National Post./end

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