THE BOTTOM LINE – AT 11:21 A.M. ET:  Is there really any doubt left as to what Iran is up to?   From The New York Times:

CAIRO — Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, ordered the nation’s atomic energy agency on Sunday to begin producing a special form of uranium that can be used to power a medical reactor in Tehran, but that could also move the country much closer to possessing fuel usable in nuclear weapons.

The announcement Sunday came after several days of conflicting signals from Mr. Ahmadinejad and other Iranian officials about whether they were ready to reopen negotiations about giving up much of their country’s fuel in exchange for enriched uranium from another country. The exchange would allow Iran to meet some of its energy needs, but would ease fears in the West because the fuel sent to Tehran would be in a form that would be very difficult to use in a bomb.

There are legitimate questions as to whether Iran could actually do, technically, what its president has now ordered, but we have no reason to be relaxed about it.  They've surprised us before.

Mr. Ahmadinejad is betting that the threat itself may force the United States, Europe and Russia to provide fuel on his terms; American officials have said the move would only speed the effort to impose sanctions. It may also affect Israel’s calculation about how far it is willing to allow Iran to get to a weapons capability before launching an attack on Iran’s nuclear or missile facilities.

COMMENT:  What is clear is that President Obama's "outreach" to Iran has been a complete failure.  The question is now whether Mr. Obama's tarnished tongue can convince other major nations to join in crippling sanctions.  The odds are against it.  So, Mr. Obama may have to start thinking about the unthinkable – a military strike, or series of strikes, to stall the Iranian program.  Very risky, very uncertain.  But there may be no other way.

Douglas MacArthur once said that all military failures begin with two words:  "Too late."  We're seeing that with Iran.  We have waited, and waited, and waited.

February 7, 2010