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Iran's suicide wish


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By John Metzler
SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM

Friday, June 25, 2004

UNITED NATIONS Ñ The pistol used by the assassin of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand which triggered events leading to the carnage of World War I, has been re-discovered and shall be displayed in a Vienna museum, some 90 years after the infamous assassination in Sarajevo. Given what that gun caused, I would classify the Browning pistol used by Serbian gunman Garvilo Princip as a weapon of mass destruction.

Now in Vienna the UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) grapples with the unfolding legacy of the Islamic Republic of IranÕs nuclear hide and seek game. That of course deals with TeheranÕs evolving nuclear weapons research which could, over the next few years, give Islamic Iran a nuclear weapon of mass destruction.

Given that Teheran hoodwinked European Union negotiators last year into believing that Iran would suspend its uranium enrichment activities and cooperate more fully with the IAEA, we have come back to the glaring reality that Teheran has been playing its usual shell game. Now you see it, now you donÕt.

Though the political perfidy of IranÕs mullahs has not fooled the Bush Administration it has mollified the Euros who view superficial cooperation as a diplomatic victory rather than a stall for time.

Far less noticed has been IranÕs equally chilling announcement that it has enrolled more than 10,000 suicide bombers into the Headquarters for Tribute to the Martyrs of the Global Islamic Movements. A recent Teheran recruitment conference Ñ attended by military officials and parliamentarians--claimed that the suicide bombers would attack targets in Iraq, Israel, Chechnya and Western Europe.

So here we see the Islamic Republic of Iran, a formal state entity, promoting terror against Americas in Iraq, Israel, Russia and the European Union. Even if the actual number is 1,000 terrorists, one does not have to be too creative to think of the violent consequences and intimidation factor in Iraq and Europe.

A common thread in this regime sponsorship of terror is IranÕs own government which has been increasingly dominated by the Revolutionary Guards the Pasdaran, the ultra-fanatical Islamic armed militants who support the hard-line mullahs.

The Revolutionary Guards Ñ increasingly a state within a state Ñ have both military power and more importantly the power of coercion over an increasingly restive Iranian population, and to manipulate Iranian government policy itself. The recent capture of British sailors in disputed waters near Iran, was no doubt such a deliberate and seemingly clumsy provocation meant to influence domestic and international policy.

The USA, Europe, Russia and PeopleÕs China have jointly condemned Islamic IranÕs quest for the nuclear genie. A recent IAEA resolution chided Iran for less than full and forthcoming cooperation. Still thereÕs been no plan to take formal measures to condemn TeheranÕs non-compliance in the UN Security Council, given that such a move is probably a non-starter. Why?

Most members of the Council wish to view the moderate face President Mohammed KhatamiÕs ÒreformÓ in Iran, never mind the lucrative commercial opportunities with this strategic oil-rich land. Council members Ñ many of whom have considerable business interests in Iran such as China, France, Germany, Russia--will be easily divided and split over the economic consequences of any such political pressures. The U.S. will be maneuvered into the role of the bad guy looking for a confrontation, and thus any really tough resolution against Teheran will likely be stillborn.

The hard-line clerics and Revolutionary Guard militants who now dominate the Iranian parliament are playing a crafty political game Ñ backed up by the threat of suicide bombings Ñ to intimidate the European Union. Should it appear that thereÕs a serious international consensus to crack down on this fast-developing nuclear program, Islamic Iran may bluff or risk even bolder intimidation. The mullahs moves could prove suicidal.

John J. Metzler is a U.N. correspondent covering diplomatic and defense issues. He writes weekly for World Tribune.com.




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