Tuesday, August 22, 2006

The Iranians Said "No"

I went back and forth on wondering whether we should worry about August 22nd. I eventually settled into a "I wouldn't put anything past that nutball" mode but wasn't unduly worried. I didn't lose sleep last night and didn't liquidate my assets into canned goods and ammo.

The day has passed without a worrisome "answer." I mean, other than the refusal to comply with our demand:

Iran said Tuesday it was ready for "serious negotiations" on its nuclear program, offering a new formula to resolve a crisis with the West. A semiofficial news agency said the government was unwilling to abandon uranium enrichment — the key U.S. demand.

Although officially Iran now has until next week to formally answer. Are we unable to take no for an answer? Iran wants to continue talking while they pursue nuclear weapons. Got it? And we've known this for years! But being masochists, the West wants to give the mullahs another chance to show their contempt. Thank you sir, may I have another. We've been very bad!

So no apocolypse. But no chance of a diplomatic solution that doesn't involve caving in to Iran and letting them get nuclear weapons.

But in the meantime as we wait for the real deadline to see if Iran changes their mind, what is up with the Iranians?


Romanian oil firm Grup Servicii Petroliere (GSP) said on Tuesday one of its offshore drilling rigs in the Gulf came under attack by an Iranian military helicopter.

"We were called by one of our employees at 9.15 a.m. local time (0615 GMT) who told us a military helicopter opened fire against the Orizont rig, and by 9.45 Iranian troops got on board," GSP spokesman Radu Petrescu told Reuters.

"Since then, we haven't heard anything from them."


Very odd. What are the Iranians up to? You know, I mean other than pursuing nuclear weapons.