When Diplomacy Fails

What's the best complement to those anti-climactic talks with North Korea? You guessed it: complete and total failure with Iran!

ISFAHAN, Iran — Iran stepped up its confrontation with the West over its nuclear program, restarting work at a uranium conversion facility Monday in a move the United States and Europe have warned will prompt them to seek U.N. sanctions.

The resumption strikes a blow at European efforts to persuade Iran to rein in a program that Washington says is intended to develop nuclear weapons. Over the weekend, Iran, which says it aims only to produce electricity, rejected European proposals for economic incentives in return for limiting its nuclear activities.

The U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, will hold an emergency meeting of its 35-member board of governors Tuesday to discuss the standoff with Iran.

Critics of Tehran question why Iran, which has vast reserves of petroleum, would need nuclear energy. Iran has responded by pointing out that it was Washington which first urged it to pursue a nuclear energy program while the pro-U.S. shah was in power.

There you have it, folks. Diplomacy has failed, just as I said all along that it would. Why? Because the mullahs and their underlings aren't civilized people. Talking is great for hammering out trade deals between the members of the European Union, or negotiating the terms of a divorce. Talk doesn't work when people whose sole need for nuclear technology is for nuclear weapons start building an atom mill.

This is very, very bad news, folks.