Did Iran call Bush and his minions bluff?

[NNN0LHI]

http://usinfo.state.gov/is/Archive/2006/Jun/04-829348.html

Rice Gives Iran Weeks, not Months, To Decide on Nuclear Talks - 6/2/06


By David Shelby
Washington File Staff Writer


Washington -- Iran has weeks, not months, to respond to the proposals from the international community to resolve the diplomatic impasse over Iran's nuclear activities, according to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

“{W}e can't wait for months while Iran again says on the one hand maybe they're interested in negotiating, on the other hand maybe they're not. They need to make a choice and the international community needs to know whether negotiation is a real option or not,” Rice told reporters in Vienna, Austria, June 2.

The international community is putting forth a package of incentives and penalties aimed at persuading the Iranian government to suspend its uranium enrichment activities and return to negotiations about its nuclear program. (See related article.)

“I hope that the Iranian government will take a little time to think about the proposal that is being presented to it. This is a way out of the impasse if Iran indeed wants a way out of the impasse,” she told a CBS News reporter.

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

1. I think so. Which suggests they have chosen to...

...gamble that the Neocons will act rationally (not a safe assumption), or that they don't believe it really matters what they do, the decision to attack/invade them has already been made, which certainly was the case for Iraq.

[NNN0LHI]

2. I choose option # 2

...or that they don't believe it really matters what they do...

Don

[damntexdem]

5. Yes, they called the bluff -- but ...

the neocons may well not have been bluffing. They may fully intend to nuke Iran.

Having two religious nutcases at the table, calling each others' bluffs, doesn't make the rest of us feel any better about the game.

[NNN0LHI]

6. Didn't do Iraq any good to concede everything to Bush

Bush still invaded and occupied them.

The Iranians were watching and taking notes I betcha.

Don

[Justice Is Comin]

3. They're sitting on enough oil they can make it feel

like we're the ones that got the sanctions.

[NNN0LHI]

4. 20 minutes ago: Iran Vows Not to Give Up Nuclear Program

http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/93-09012006-706173.html

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran underlined its disregard Friday for the now-expired U.N. deadline to halt uranium enrichment when its president vowed never to give up its nuclear program and accused the West of misrepresenting Tehran's nuclear activities.

Iran had until midnight Thursday to halt its enrichment activities or face the possibility of economic sanctions under a U.N. Security Council resolution passed July 31.

Although the U.N. nuclear watchdog reported Thursday that Iran has not halted enrichment, thereby opening the way for punitive measures, U.S. and other officials said no action would be sought before a key European diplomat meets with Tehran's atomic chief next week to seek a compromise.

On Friday, in the first comments by an Iranian official since the deadline passed, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, told a rally, "Exploitation of peaceful nuclear energy is our obvious right. We will never give up our legal right."

"The West's claim that Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons is a sheer lie," state TV quoted him as telling the gathering in Maku, northwestern Iran. "The West basically opposes progress by Iran."