If anything Iran turned up the heat, the agency reported. And the Iranians aren't bashful about it. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad recently bragged "Iran's move is like a train … which has no brake and no reverse gear.”
Obviously, the Iranians were unfazed by sanctions imposed by the Security Council Dec. 23 — a ban on exports of materials and technologies that could aid Iran's nuclear weapons and missile programs and a freeze on the foreign assets of 10 Iranian companies and 12 individuals involved in those programs.
The fact the council needed four months to come up with little more than a slap on the wrist told Iran something about the body's resolve. It will take more to get Iran's attention and cooperation.
The five permanent members of the Security Council and Germany were to meet this week to discuss what comes next. Options might include a travel ban, arms embargo and other measures, although Russia and China likely would block any measure with real fangs.
James Phillips of the conservative Heritage Foundation argues the United States and its allies can't depend on the U.N, and that an international coalition outside the U.N. should target Iran's weak economy by halting foreign investment, loans and the transfer of advanced, nonmilitary technology.
Suffering from high unemployment, high inflation and low economic growth, Iran is vulnerable, Phillips writes. Oil exports that account for about 85 percent of the country's export revenue will decrease without new foreign investment, technology and know-how.
The alternative is to watch Iran ignore the U.N. further and move closer to nuclear weapons, when the available options are fewer and far less appealing.
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