Security Council approves Iran sanctions
The U.N. Security Council Saturday unanimously approved a resolution that would impose sanctions against Iran for its nuclear program, culminating two months of tough negotiations aimed at getting Tehran to suspend uranium enrichment.
Heading into the session, it was not clear whether there would be unanimous support, with the votes of Russia, China and Qatar in question.
In a final attempt to win Russian support, key European nations circulated a new text of a U.N. resolution late Friday.
After much negotiation they seem to have come up with a fairly reasonable plan, the sanctions are tight but very narrow focused on Iran's nuclear plans. Plus the sanctions seem to have a well defined course, something that many such sanction plans lack.
The big question now is how will Iran respond. Personally, I think if Iran is smart they will suspend enrichment and return to negotiation. Even if their goal is to build a weapon, better to make a good show and delay till Bush leaves office. However, the current government of Iran is just as belligerent as the US one, so they are liable to take a harder line.
Jay