Bush's drive to war with Iran - to cover his Iraq disaster - may be made much more difficult by a new agreement Iran has made with the IAEA this week. The agreement would make it very unlikely that the UN Security Council would in the short run pass resolutions to increase sanctions on Iran for its nuclear enrichment programs.
In an article on 7/13/07, AP reports that Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have reached agreement:
- Iran will answer questions regarding previous nuclear experiments, and both sides have agreed how to resolve remaining issues
- IAEA inspectors will return to a plutonium-producing reactor Iran is building
- Iran has scaled back its enrichment of uranium (but not halted enrichment)
- In regard to the nuclear enrichment site that makes the neo-cons get all hard: [see extended entry]
At Natanz, site of Iran's enrichment program, IAEA inspectors have been allowed fairly broad access to approximately 2,000 centrifuges set up to spin uranium gas into enriched uranium. But the IAEA statement suggested Tehran was ready for more concessions there as well, saying a new meeting was planned in early August on "the finalization of the safeguards approach" — formal language for specific inspection and monitoring rights — at the facility.
My guess is that EU, IAEA and Iran all know they must undercut Bush's drive to war between the US and Iran by removing excuses that Bush might use as war justification before he leaves office.
If this plays out as now seen, Bush's war-stick might get mighty limp when the word Iran is spoken. We should all hope this is true, and that the UN Security Council (and Congress) don't take any actions to impede the IAEA attempts to defuse Bush's war plans.
Here's the full IAEA statement from 7/13/07.
Update: BBC: UN hails Iran nuclear agreement