Wow, what a messy situation with Iran

Thanks to everyone for all the posting over the last few days. It's been pretty interesting watching what's developing with Iran! Today, you may have also heard news stories about Iranian missile tests. While Iran doesn't currently have the capability to build nuclear missiles, the missile testing exercises they are doing now are a signal that they are ready and able to retaliate if Israel, the U.S., or a broader coalition attempts strikes.
New York Times article on the missile tests (there are more planned tomorrow)

It's estimated that Iran could, if it decided to "go nuclear", potentially have its first testable bomb on a timescale of about a year from now. They still maintain that they have no intentions of doing this, but it's clear that almost nobody in the international community believes them. Even Russia, who has been reluctant to join with western countries in imposing strict sanctions, has been softening that position a bit in light of the recent indications that Iran is pursuing an aggressive uranium enrichment program.

So what could be done to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran? Well, as you read below in some of the previous postings, stricter international sanctions are the preferred option according to U.S. Defense Secretary Gates:
L.A. Times article on Gates' position

There was an interesting editorial today in the Wall Street Journal that basically takes the position that sanctions will never be able to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran. It argues that the choice we have is basically another war in the short term, or dealing with Iran as a nuclear state in the long term. The author is Eliot Cohen, a conservative who has previously advocated military action in Iran (and who was one of the early voices supporting the decision to invade Iraq). He doesn't seem to think the Obama administration has the "stomach" for invading Iran, but he does think we should be looking for "harder" rather than "softer" solutions.
Eliot Cohen's editorial on the only choices left on Iran

All of this stuff going on overrides much of the material I had planned for our next class - please keep reading up on what's happening, and we'll spend a good chunk of time talking about it.

Thanks again for posting!

Kathryn