Anyone with a semblance of intelligence is clearly aware of the situation involving Iran and its nuclear program. Those who aren’t aware of this situation are too busy obsessing over Brad Pit and Angelina Jolie or watching the umpteenth football game and such.

Faced with the prospect of being referred to the United Nations Security Council, a meaningless gesture that will do nothing to solve the Iranian problem, Iran has taken a defiant stand. Again the Iranians have asserted that they have a right to nuclear power and reaffirmed that they are not developing nuclear weapons, which sheer nonsense. To make matters even worse, the Iranians are threatening consequences if sanctions are imposed. Most recently, the Iranians have played the most potent hand they have: oil.

The Iranians have argued that if sanctions are imposed oil prices will skyrocket. Iran is one of the world’s top five oil producers and as such they must be taken at their word. Or should they? Iran, with an economy highly dependent on oil and high levels of unemployment, cannot afford to cut off its primary resource to international trade. The situation with Iran is quite volatile and in reality any sanctions that may or may not be imposed on Iran will have absolutely no affect whatsoever. There is no historical evidence that sanctions have ever achieved their desired goal.

If sanctions are imposed, it will only harm the Iranian poor, solidifying the hard-line position of Iran’s leadership and serving as a rallying point to stir nationalistic passions. Iran knows that the EU and even the US are unlikely to use force and therefore, they can take a defiant tone. Iran unlike, Libya a few years earlier, does not fear invasion, the lessons learned from Iraq and Afghanistan have been lost, thanks to leftists who have rallied against those actions, eliminating their effectiveness as deterrents. What Iran understands is strength and at present only Iran is exhibiting such strength. In fact the only concern is Israel and they simply lack the resources to completely destroy Iran’s WMD resources.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,16518,1687381,00.html