Well it looks like we have ourselves a standoff.
Russia toughened its stance towards Iran on Wednesday, threatening to back further United Nations sanctions over Tehran's nuclear program unless it halted uranium enrichment in the next few days.
"If Iran in the next few days does not stop the enrichment activities of its heavy water project then yes, Russia ... has taken upon itself certain commitments... to support the resolution that has been drafted in the past month," Churkin told reporters via a video link from New York.
This is big on a few levels. First off, if it's all true, then we've gotten Russia, one of the key footdraggers for sanctions, back on our side. Secondly, it lets Iran know that they need to stop enrichment, a key demand by us.
Thirdly, and this is also important, if Russia backs down, it will make them look weak and hypocritical. That's something they don't want to do in their scramble to get back onto the world stage.
Of course, I expect Iran to give everyone a big "fuck you", and the sanctions to come into play, but it's at least nice to see that Russia is giving us a decent show.
Travis
No comments:
Post a Comment