Posted on 08/31/2006 7:50:39 PM PDT by jmc1969
Iranians are used to sanctions after struggling with a decades-old ban on doing business with America. What made them bristle Thursday - as the United Nations deadline passed for Iran to halt its nuclear enrichment program - was the thought that their country could become an international pariah.
"Everyone's worried," jeweler Bahram Mehraban said in his small Tehran storefront, contemplating the possibility of UN sanctions. "Only the common people will be hurt. . . . All the important people here will have prepared and (will) still have a luxurious life."
With a tough speech from hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran defied the UN ultimatum to stop enriching uranium at midnight Thursday, opening the door for threatened sanctions and intensifying Iran's stand-off with Western leaders worried that its aim is to build nuclear weapons.
The International Atomic Energy Agency issued a report Thursday confirming that Iran had not heeded the Security Council demand to halt its uranium enrichment. While Iran insists its nuclear program is intended for civilian purposes, the report said the agency was unable to confirm "the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program."
Shopkeepers in this capital city's main bazaar stopped their transactions to converse about the dilemma. Shoppers, some buying crystal bowls and others bargaining down the price of jeans, were adamant in defending Iran's quest but downbeat about the rewards of defying world powers.
Few said they doubted that the United States, at odds with Iran since its Islamic revolution more than 27 years ago, would seek to inflict economic pain on the country.
Businessmen feared that sanctions will lead to a steep economic downturn in an already sluggish market. Others wondered aloud about psychological fall-out in a country filled with young people eager for possibilities beyond their nation's borders.
(Excerpt) Read more at contracostatimes.com ...
Too late, they already are. Once again innocent people suffer the consequences of the guilty.
Here we go with the ole..."The Iranian people are good" pablum. They get the government they deserve! Theyve has plenty of time to get their sh*t together as a civilized country and cant. Im tired of being threatened and targeted by these Koranimals. Catch the MOABs I say, good people of Iran.
Not to worry, the UN will not vote any but the mildest of sanctions. What the Iranians should fear is the consequences of their fanatical President building a bomb.
No country is totally evil. We thought the same thing about the Iraqi people, even I fell for the propaganda. But when I got over there I found them to be some of the warmest, generous and accomodating people I ever met. You cannot judge a entire population by the actions of some.
Nothing that a little revolution won't cure.
I don't think one is too far off. The Iranian people just have to come to grips with the fact that together they can bring an end to the Ayatollah's reign of terror. Ahmedinajad is a loud mouthed buffoon of a puppet but the Ayatollah is pulling the strings
Umm, it wasn't the revolution per se. It was the fact that they held 66 American hostages for 444 days during the Carter Administration. The majority were not released until Ronald Reagan was sworn in. Coincidence?
Maybe we should be doing massive airdrops of assassination kits into the country.
Nope. Once Reagan was president-elect, he did some major trash talking that scared the crap out of them
The Iranians need not worry - the Russians and the Chinese will protect them from the e-e-evil Americans!
Yup. That was when George H W Bush flew an SR-71 Blackbird to Teheran to arrange the release of the hostages just to embarass Carter.
Remember that Democrat investigation?
There's an easy way for the Iranians to deal with the discomfort of sanctions. All they need to do is to ask Joe Wilson to come and investigate; he'll give the country a clean bill of health, then it's business as usual. Complete the heavy water reactor (only used for flashlight battery power, after all) and it's off to the races.
"Maybe we should be doing massive airdrops of assassination kits into the country."
Great Idea. Instead of one shot one kill we could have many shots many kills.
BS. Did the people of Eastern Europe deserve Communist rule for 45 years?
Well, Mr. Mehraban has realized at least half of the equation. The other half is how long is the average Iranian going to sit around and let this continue--in other words, the only reason the important people sit on their thrones is because the rest of the Iranians sit down and let the important people run roughshod.
Here's another clue for Mr. Mehraban: It's not really the U.S. that the 'important people' consider the true enemy, but those within Iran who would resist the current regime.
As John Stuart Mill once observed: "War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is worse."
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