Speaking today in Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov rejected US threats to press for more sanctions against the Iranian government, insisting that the focus should be on diplomacy and that the repeated threats were “counterproductive.”
Lavrov’s comments came following a meeting with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who was attempting to get specific guarantees from Russia to support new sanctions against Iran. The effort was, as Lavrov’s comments indicate, unsuccessful.
Despite this, State Department officials claim that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev gave Secretary Clinton assurances behind closed doors that Russia was still willing to back the sanctions if Iran didn’t implement the Geneva deal.
At the October 1 Geneva meet, Iran proposed a deal for Russia and other nations to accept low-enriched uranium from Iran, and enrich it to a higher level and return it for use in the medical industry. The offer was eagerly accepted by the P5+1 nations.
Despite the deal, and despite Iran having finalized a deal with the IAEA for new inspections later this month, the Obama Administration has continued to press for new sanctions, and continued to accuse Iran of seeking nuclear weapons despite ample evidence to the contrary.
The actions of the United States government and its chief warmonger, Obama would be unexplainable it the true purpose of talks with the Iranian government were to avoid war and preserve the peace. This, however, is not the case. The purpose of the talks with the Iranian government is to gain international acceptance for a war with Iran, and harsh economic sanctions to starve the innocent men, women, and children of Iran bring the War Mafia one step closer to that cherished goal. It is, therefore, of utmost importance to portray the talks as a failure no matter what agreements and concessions are made by the Iranian government. Even if the Iranian government were to agree to suspend its uranium enrichment program it would not make any difference. The War Mafia would simply claim that the Iranian government is enriching uranium in secret and demand the Iranian government prove it is not enriching uranium. If it is remembered that the final goal is war with Iran, then all the accusations unsupported by facts, all the inflammatory statements, and this mad rush to starve the innocent people of Iran to death make perfect sense.
The hypocrisy of America is mind boggling.
Ira Epstein-brilliant post and well said!
Ira, you pleasantly sound like one of the "culturally evolved Homo Sapiens", those who clearly see the stupidity and barbarism of wars, those who believe any social conflict can be solved using our common intelligence and good will.
Please continue using your effective agreements on countering those of the deplorable warmongers.
Ira, you are correct in all that you said. And, may I add, three cheers for Putin (who is still in charge in Russia) on this issue. At least on the issue of Iranian nuclear technology, he is showing a sensible, rational and sane approach. He is definitely a check on Ira's "War Mafia" back home here in America.
I wish I could claim credit for the term "war mafia", however I first read that term in an article by Jeff Huber.
It certainly seems that the US is bent on action against Iran, is again trying to lead the world along in the same way that it did against Saddam's Iraq, ramping up the pressure of sanctions, making unsubstantiated accusations, ignoring sovereign rights, threatening to act unilaterally…
Robert Fisk, in The Independent, noted that Iran recently announced it would now trade for euros rather than US dollars, ie. you will now need euros to buy Iran's vast oil reserves, and that the last country to try that trick was Saddam's Iraq. He also claims that "Gulf Arabs are planning – along with China, Russia, Japan and France – to end dollar dealings for oil, moving instead to a basket of currencies…" and that it is planned to start taking effect in 2018.
A war against Iran started in 2010/2011 would still be going by 2018 (witness Iraq/Afghanistan) and would see the US firmly controlling Hormuz Straits and all the oil passing that way…
However, in spite of the way the US is talking at the moment, I do not believe the US, or Israel, will attack Iran (and especially now that those crafty Norwegians gave Obama the Nobel peace prize) with anything more than sanctions. The IAEA will inevitably clear Iran of having an illegal nuclear programme at the Qom facility, or anywhere else, and the US wont be so successful in convincing the rest of the world to cobble together another coalition to help them attack Iran. Clinton will start to tone down the belligerent rhetoric, and within two years, Washington/Tehran relations will be better than it's been in the past 40 years.
But I might be wrong…