Originally Posted by Skybird

What's the news in that? I'm saying this for years. The negotiations are in vain, for the West is too weak to hold them from a position of strength. the strong player in this is Iran - not Europe, and not the US. there is no reason why Iran mjust acdcept the goals of Western negotiators. They can simply outsit whatever consequences there will be, and must not fear military action as well. Conventional war/strikes will only delay - if so! - their program, but will not hurt it hard enough to shut it down. That leaves you with only two options left: strike the critical targets with nukes (the political fallout the striker will suffer outclassing the strategical gains), or leave them alone and accept a nuclear-armed Iran. - The irony is that Iran NEEDS nuclear energy (or other sources of energy)indeed. They are consuming so much of their oil themselves, and so cheap, and have to little of it left for export, that economically they cannot survive that way for much longer. They need to free those shares they consume themselves for exporting it and turn it into money. - If they would be less hostile, and more trustworthy and reasonable, so if they wouldn't be Iran, but another kind of country, then international policy already would have admitted this years ago.