The United States continues pressuring Iran to halt its nuclear program. While building a case for a third layer of sanctions on top of those already imposed on Iran, the comments of Mohammad ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, were seen as unhelpful to the imperialist cause.
In a May 15 interview with the New York Times, ElBaradei said that “one of the purposes of suspension—keeping Iran
|
This position was a far cry from upholding Iran’s right to peaceful nuclear development, a guaranteed right under the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, to which Iran is a signatory.
Nor was this even an assertion of the IAEA’s own findings. The IAEA found no evidence that Iran has a nuclear weapons program. This strips the resolutions and sanctions against Iran of any legality. But the mere suggestion that imperialist powers should consider some manner of compromise prompted protests from Washington and its allies.
On May 25, U.S., British, French and Japanese ambassadors to the IAEA were dispatched to ElBaradei’s office to voice their concern over his comments and to demand his adherence to the Security Council resolutions of sanctioning Iran. Questions were even raised as to whether they would call for ElBaradei’s resignation.
ElBaradei has been no threat to the imperialist war drive. In the lead up to the Iraq invasion—an invasion to which there was significant opposition in the imperialist camp—the most defiance ElBaradei could muster was asking for more time to confirm that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction. This was after Iraq had been under the most suffocating sanctions for 14 years and subjected to hundreds of inspections.
Even if the United States were to take ElBaradei’s recommendation, accepting Iran’s right to uranium work in research facilities and denying it industrial scale production would still be a violation of Iran’s right to peaceful nuclear energy. The capitalist media consistently depict Iran’s leadership as uncompromising and unwilling to negotiate. But the reality is the exact opposite.
The protests over ElBaradei’s comments—serving as a warning to keep him in line—indicate that the United States, in the name of the international community, will accept no outcome but Iran’s complete abandonment of nuclear work. Even then, regime change in Iran would still be pursued through different means, as it is today.
Much of the real international community, not the imperialist-dominated United Nations Security Council, believes that Iran has a right to develop nuclear energy. Iran’s right to peaceful nuclear development has been asserted in resolutions ratified by the non-aligned movement.
U.S. ‘war games’
Demonstrating the militaristic nature of U.S. policy in the region and its regime change approach toward Iran, starting on May 24 the U.S. Navy carried out yet another military exercise off the coast of Iran. This followed large-scale military exercises in October 2006 and March of this year.
The exercise involved carrier strike groups Stennis and Nimitz, carrying 80 warplanes each, guided-missile cruiser Antietam, amphibious assault ship Bonhomme Richard and three other warships. The massive operation involved the participation of 17,000 sailors and marines.
The inclusion of two nuclear-powered warships in the exercise prompted questions on whether the ships carried nuclear weapons. A U.S. Navy spokesperson responded by saying that the United States routinely did not comment on whether its warships were equipped with nuclear arms.
Iran is being sanctioned for its nuclear program based on unsubstantiated accusations that it might be developing nuclear weapons. At the same time, the U.S. Navy is carrying out threatening military exercises off Iran’s coast with nuclear warships. The hypocrisy of the U.S. government and its imperialist partners could not be more obvious, although it still escapes the observation of ruling class media.
To workers in the United States and everywhere, the real danger is the inherent war drive of the U.S. government in service of the insatiable thirst of corporate capital for profits and resources, not Iran’s developing nuclear energy program.
