Iran's decision to keep preparing raw uranium for enrichment, a step on the way to making nuclear weapons, breaks the spirit though not the letter of its pledge to freeze all such activity, diplomats said on Tuesday.
And the letter of Iran's pledge that Europe managed to wrestle out of the mullahs?
Under a deal Iran reached with three EU nations to freeze all enrichment activity as of Nov. 22, preparing "yellowcake" uranium for enrichment is strictly prohibited. But the accord allowed Iran to finish some limited uranium conversion work that it had already begun before the suspension took effect.
Well that's interesting. The Europeans struggled all this time to get Iran to agree to a suspension of enrichment activities--except for the activities already underway. Surely this is just a matter of spinning down some cyclotrons and packing stuff away, right? No more than a couple of days to comply with the letter of the agreement, right? Once again, not so much:
But Iran will now continue enrichment-related work until February, Western diplomats told Reuters.
Continuing the work that long "would certainly violate the spirit of the agreement," a Western diplomat said. "Iran has a legal basis for doing it, but it will not inspire much confidence in them," another diplomat said.
Confidence in the Iranians? My, hope does spring eternal!
Two other diplomats confirmed the report. One said Iran appeared to be exploiting a loophole in the promise it made to France, Britain and Germany to freeze enrichment activity.
"It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone," said one Western diplomat. Whenever there is a loophole in an agreement, the Iranians find it and use it to their advantage, he said.
Those sophisticated Europeans left a loophole in the agreement that the mullahs can launch a nuclear missile through? How is this possible? How could the Europeans be so trusting of these people? Were they truly surprised? Are they shocked that people who have been driving for nuclear weapons, dreaming of what they will do with them, and otherwise show every intention of sacrificing economic progress to get nukes would actually violate the "spirit" of the agreement?
But it does come as a surprise to lots of people who value process over results. It always comes as a surprise and it will until we truly do something about the mullahs.
Is it any wonder that some people in the West actually believe that America is a greater threat to peace? We say we will defend ourselves. Which is scary to those who want to take the month of August off from work and not think about the barbarians in the woods. But let those barbarians say some soothing words and the soft Westerners heave a sigh of relief and head off to holiday. And when we point out that the soft words are not matched by soft actions, we are at fault for spoiling the holiday. We are at fault because without our reality check they could have enjoyed their holiday in peace--blissfuly unaware of the danger that closed in on them while they slumbered. The Europeans blame us because the Iranians would be glad to say whatever soothing words the Europeans want to hear to extend their holiday of ignorance just a little longer. That is pretty sophisticated, eh?
Iran is marching toward nuclear missiles and no waving of papers on a Brussels tarmac will change that simple fact. And no blaming of America for pointing this out will make this scary future our fault.
We are running out of time to stop these nutballs.
