Obama and SANCTIONS

It seems that President Obama has smelled the coffee when it comes to Iran; the President stated the following to the press on the move by Iran to enrich its uranium by 20% and the move to place sanctions on Iran, “ Well, it's moving along fairly quickly. I think that we have bent over backwards to say to the Islamic Republic of Iran that we are willing to have a constructive conversation about how they can align themselves with international norms and rules and reenter as full members of the international community. The most obvious attempt was when we gave them an offer that said we are going to provide the conversion of some of the low-enriched uranium that they already have into the isotopes that they need for their medical research and for hospitals that would serve up to a million Iranian citizens. They rejected it -- although one of the difficulties in dealing with Iran over the last several months is it's not always clear who's speaking on behalf of the government, and we get a lot of different, mixed signals. But what's clear is, is that they have not said yes to an agreement that Russia, China, Germany, France, Great Britain and the United States all said was a good deal, and that the director of the IAEA said was the right thing to do and that Iran should accept. That indicates to us that, despite their posturing that their nuclear power is only for civilian use, that they in fact continue to pursue a course that would lead to weaponization. And that is not acceptable to the international community, not just to the United States. So what we've said from the start was we're moving on dual tracks. If you want to accept the kinds of agreements with the international community that lead you down a path of being a member of good standing, then we welcome you….. And if not, then the next step is sanctions. They have made their choice so far, although the door is still open. And what we are going to be working on over the next several weeks is developing a significant regime of sanctions that will indicate to them how isolated they are from the international community as a whole. ” This is Obama’s last chance to prevent an Israeli attack on Iran, if Russia and China water down the UN sanctions the Government of Israel will have no choice but to attack Iran. The Obama Administration of late has been lot tougher on Iran, but is it tough enough for Israel, President Obama might want to accept a nuclear armed Iran but Israel and the neighbours of Iran do not want the threat. Also a policy of containment that worked in the Cold War could lead to other Middle Eastern countries also going nuclear, thus a nuclear armed Iran has to be prevented, if diplomacy fails then other options come in to play.