No way. A question to Uhder Secretary Burns and answer. Check out how many times he says the "D" word.
This is the guy that issued Khatamie an unlimited Visa.
Preston Mendenhall, NBC News: It seems like this is just such a gradual process. Is there really any bite to what…
Under Secretary Burns: It's called "diplomacy." I don't mean to be – it's called "diplomacy."
This is a very intricate – it's a very challenging set of issues that are presented by the Iranian government. And here you have this unique coalition.
A year ago, there was no coalition. A year ago, the EU3 was negotiating with a different Iranian government – the Khatami government.
A year later, because of what Iran has done, you've had the creation of this very large coalition.
This is very much in our interest, to have Russia, China – and to a larger extent if you think of the IAEA – India, Egypt, Brazil, Sri Lanka, all voting to rebuke Iran and to say to Iran, "Suspend your nuclear operations and come back to talks." We are focused on diplomacy.
We're trying to make diplomacy work. We believe a diplomatic solution is possible; I'm not saying it's certain, but it's possible and we haven't given up on a diplomatic solution.
So when you're engaged in this multilateral diplomacy of this nature, it takes time. Now what we hope is that the UN Security Council will speak with one voice and then agree to a set of actions that will be one action designed to convince the Iranians to back down and to suspend their nuclear operations – that is the challenge here.
And I suppose it would be easy for us to give up and say, "These are difficult negotiations," but that's not a very logical choice, and it wouldn't serve the greater interest we have in a diplomatic solution.
Absolutely nothing is going to happen in Iran until after the elections. IMHO.