Iran Nuclear Watch: Uranium Enrichment Deadline Day

In front of a picture of the Iranian late revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, waves to the crowd during a public gathering at the city of Orumiyeh 540 miles (900 kilometers) northwest of the capital Tehran, Iran , Thursday, Aug. 31, 2006. Iran’s president defiantly refused to compromise as a U.N. deadline for his country to stop enriching uranium arrived Thursday, saying Tehran would not be bullied into giving up its right to nuclear technology.

AP: Iran welcomes showdown on deadline day

U.S. and European officials appeared ready to push for low-level sanctions against Iran like travel bans Thursday as country’s president made clear he would not compromise on the day of a U.N. deadline.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad did not directly address the deadline but maintained Iran’s right to nuclear technology in a speech to a cheering crowd of thousands in Orumiyeh in northwestern Iran.

“The Iranian nation will not succumb to bullying, invasion and the violation of its rights,” Ahmadinejad told a crowd of thousands.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi shrugged off the possibility of sanctions, telling state-run television that Iran “will find a way to avoid pressure eventually,”

The deadline was widely reported on the front pages of major Iranian newspapers. The daily Aftab said the showdown offers “the enemies” a chance to ratchet up pressure on Iran.

Another newspaper, Kargozaran, expressed doubt that the U.S. would muster enough support within the Security Council for punitive sanctions.

NO surprises and it is off to the United Nations Security Council where BANAL sanctions and resolutions will rule the day.

The IAEA report that states that Iran has been enriching uranium at Natanz as late as Tuesday is due out soon.

In a speech devoted mostly to local issues, Ahmadinejad said enemies of the country were trying to stir up differences among the Iranian people, but “I tell them: you are wrong. The Iranian nation is united.”

“They claim to be supporting freedom but they support the most tyrannical governments in the world to pursue their own interests,” he said, referring to the United States.

“They talk about human rights while maintaining the most notorious prisons,” he said. “Those powers that do not abide by God and follow evil are the main source of all the current problems of mankind.”

Blah Blah Blah……Iran covets nuclear weapons and the United States and Israel will DENY them.

So, what is next?

Iran’s refusal to heed the Security Council demand to stop enrichment will be detailed in a confidential IAEA report to be completed Thursday and given to the Security Council. That is likely to trigger council members â€” by mid-September â€” to begin considering economic or political sanctions.

The U.S. State Department has not said publicly what it might seek. But U.S. and European officials have indicated they might push for travel restrictions on Iranian officials or a ban on sale of dual-use technology to Iran.

The hope is to start with relatively low-level punishments in a bid to attract Russian and Chinese support, the officials have signaled.

More extreme would be a freeze on Iranian assets or a broader trade ban â€” although opposition to that by Russia, China and perhaps others would be strong, particularly since it could cut off badly needed oil exports from Iran.

Russia and China seem likely, in any case, to resist U.S.-led efforts for a quick response, which likely means sanctions do not loom immediately.

That has prompted the Bush administration to consider rallying allies to impose sanctions or financial restrictions of their own, independent of the Security Council.

The United Nations will discuss this matter for weeks and impose some limited sanctions. The Bush Administration will “slow play” the sanction issue since new intelligence says that Iran is five years away from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

But, is this intelligence believable?

The Mullahs and Ahmadinejad covet a nuclear weapon in the worst way.

Will sanctions be effective?