Links - July 22

Now Bush Is Appeasing Iran

On May 31, 2006, Condoleezza Rice drew a red line in front of Tehran's nuclear enrichment program. "The Iranian government's choices are clear," she said. "The negative choice is for the regime to maintain its current course. . . . If the regime does so, it will incur only great costs." She also offered an olive branch: "As soon as Iran fully and verifiably suspends its enrichment and reprocessing activities, the United States will come to the table with our EU-3 colleagues and meet with Iran's representatives."



Iran's gasoline imports prime target for sanctions

The most likely target of those sanctions this time are Iranian gasoline supplies. The Bush administration is also reportedly looking to impede Iranian shipping in the Persian Gulf and put the squeeze on the banks that finance oil transactions.

Even though Iran is the world's fourth-largest oil producer, its ability to convert that crude into usable refined products, such as gasoline and diesel, remains limited. So it imports what it can't make.



Israel, Iran and the Bomb

Tehran's efforts to intimidate the United States and Israel from using military force against its nuclear program, combined with yet another diplomatic charm offensive with the Europeans, are two sides of the same policy coin. The regime is buying the short additional period of time it needs to produce deliverable nuclear weapons, the strategic objective it has been pursuing clandestinely for 20 years.