UN resolution to give Iran nuclear ultimatum

[ECH1969]

A proposed UN Security Council resolution would give Iran a short time to suspend uranium enrichment and construction of a nuclear reactor that produces plutonium or face the prospect of economic and diplomatic sanctions, a council diplomat said Tuesday.

It calls for the suspension to be verified by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN nuclear watchdog, and other international experts, the diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the draft had not yet been circulated to all council members.

"It's still our hope to adopt the resolution this week if at all possible, and we don't see that there should be major objections to that," US Ambassador John Bolton told reporters after the meeting.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1150886037444&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

[Tempest]

1. a PROPOSED resolution

It'll never get approval of both Russia and China.

[bemildred]

2. Then again, maybe not. nt

[daleo]

3. Given the events of the last few days (and others recently)

It is not hard to see why a country would want a nuclear deterrent. Without it, you are basically a sitting duck.

[toopers]

4. I believe Israel has nuclear weapons . . .

and they still get attacked.

[Herman Munster]

5. Nukes are a last resort

The problem is Israel is limited in its use of nuclear weapons because of the fallout risk to its citizens. If they nuke Lebanon, West Bank, or Gaza, or even Damascus, there is significant fallout risk to its population.

The only way Israel will nuke a country is if Syria or Iran shoot missiles at Tel Aviv with chemical warheads. At that point, the damage has been done and they'll have nothing left to lose.

[daleo]

7. I think if there ever was a tank brigade breakout on its way to Tel Aviv

Tactical nuclear weapons would have a very high possibility of being used. Say, for example, Egypt attacked Israel while the IDF were heavily engaged elsewhere, and were going to overrun Tel Aviv within hours.

I think that's the main reason Egypt decided to sign the Carter peace accords. With no prospect of conventional victory, the whole thing became pointless for them. They knew they were going to a gunfight armed only with a knife.

I think that's one reason why Iran wants the bomb, to even this "playing field". And that is why Israel is desperate to prevent Iran from getting the bomb.

Iran also wants the deterrent against the U.S., as North Korea does.

[daleo]

6. But not by the conventional armies of foreign states

Granted, nuclear weapons won't stop asymmetrical warfare - that's clear from the resistance against the U.S. in Iraq, for example. It also isn't stopping Katysha rockets from Hezzbollah in Israel's case. But I don't think there has been a conventional attack by massed armies on Israel since 1973.