UN Security Council gives Iran deadline
The United Nations Security Council passed a resolution by a 14-1 vote that gives Iran until Aug. 31 to accept a multinational incentives package aimed at suspending its nuclear program, or face the threat of economic sanctions.Qatar voted against the resolution.
The measure is “a message to Iran that were open to negotiations, U.K. Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry said. “We want Iran to respond positively to our package, but the package is quite clear about what it offers and what it requires.
“We hope very much this will concentrate minds in Tehran, and out of it we will have a response we would all like to see, the British envoy said.
If Iran refuses the UN demand, the Security Council could move to discussions under Article 41 of the UN Charter, which provides for unspecified economic penalties.
It will be interesting to see what happens. Iran has stated in the past that it would consider sanctions to be an act of war, and has threatened obliquely that it might attempt to close the strait of Hormuz if that happens. My guess though is that Iran will not be willing to go that far.
If the sanctions are not too tough on Iran, I expect that they will try to tough their way through them as only extremely tough economic penalties would balance out slowing their nuclear progress. If they are tough (or more likely if Iran senses they will be very tough) I expect that Iran will agree in the short term while continuing to make what progress it can through alternative means and in a year or two will return to enriching uranium. Perhaps that is the best we can hope for at the moment, something that will slow them up.
Whatever happens, I highly doubt that we are close to any permanent solution to the problems of Iranian nuclear ambitions.
