Nuclear drive a casualty of Iran's turmoil
Los Angeles Times / Borzou Daragahi
28-Aug-2009 (one comment)

Reporting from Beirut - Iran's political crisis could prevent the nation from making any swift move to ratchet up its nuclear program, said analysts and officials, giving President Obama and Western allies more time to grapple with the issue.

The chaos over the disputed reelection of hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad brings into question who calls the shots in Tehran, and what any deal with the Islamic Republic involving its nuclear program would look like.

The Obama administration, concerned that Tehran is seeking to amass the materials needed to manufacture nuclear weapons, set an informal deadline of September for Iran to respond positively to an offer to discuss the matter rather than risk new economic sanctions.

"The infighting in Tehran has sent up a smoke screen that further confuses the picture from the outside, and the picture was plenty opaque to begin with," said a U.S. official in Washington who is involved in formulating nuclear policy and spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

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Shifteh Ansari

All of Iran a casualty of Khamenei and Ahmadinejad

by Shifteh Ansari on

Everything about everything that IRI does now is affected by a rigged election, a ruthless government, and an illegitimate president.  Wait and watch how Iran will suffer even more on all fronts.  The IRI jallads are about to see some real challenges ahead.


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