IAEA Cannot Confirm Iran's Peaceful Nuclear Intent. Duh.

The IAEA says that it cannot confirm that the Iranian nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. Wow, that was a tough call.

The IAEA's main purpose over the past few years has been to monitor the Iranian nuclear program. Led for years by Mohamed ElBaradei, Iran was able to rope-a-dope the international body through tactics of intermittent feigned compliance, periodic defiance, stalls, negotiation, and an occasional taunt.

The Bush administration never cared much for ElBaradei's style of buddying up to the mullahs while hoping that the terrorist state they controlled would miraculously drop its nuclear program out of a newly discovered love for mankind. Firmly supported by Russia, China, and France, for his efforts, in 2005 he shared the Nobel Prize with the IAEA.

Despite the wonderful cash and prizes, nothing has changed. Years later we are still faced with an Iran that is inching closer to a deliverable weapon powerful enough to set the Middle East on fire.

From the Christian Science Monitor via Jihad Watch:

Istanbul, Turkey - The UN's top nuclear official on Monday said the Islamic Republic was not providing the "necessary cooperation" to guarantee that the Iran nuclear program is for exclusively peaceful purposes.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) assessment comes as Iran has been stepping up uranium enrichment levels and expanding its nuclear fuel cycle plans in recent weeks, moves that have prompted President Barack Obama to warn of tougher sanctions against Iran.

"The agency continues...to verify the non-diversion of declared nuclear material in Iran, but we cannot confirm that all nuclear material in Iran is in peaceful activities because Iran has not provided the agency with the necessary cooperation," Yukiya Amano, the new IAEA chief, told the agency's governing board at the start of its meeting in Vienna this week.

It does not take a genius to figure out that the biggest obstacle between Iran and a deliverable nuclear weapon is nothing more than time. Yet, each and every stalling tactic that Iran has employed has been swallowed by an impotent international community too afraid to appear heavy handed.

We've already written too many letters that outlined our serious concern. We've talked too much and we've delayed too much. Putting off tough sanctions amounts to nothing more than kicking the can down the road. Exactly what Iran wants.