Condoleezza Rice announced another delay on consideration of the Iranian portfolio by the UN Security Council, with the US agreeing to allow the EU to present another proposal to Iran intended to provide them with positive motivations to drop their nuclear program:

The US Secretary of State has said that efforts to pursue a tough UN Security Council resolution on Iran's nuclear programme will be delayed.

Condoleezza Rice said European countries would resume diplomatic efforts to persuade Tehran to change its position. ...

"We agreed...we would wait for a couple of weeks, while the Europeans design an offer to the Iranians that would make clear that they have a choice that would allow them to have a civil nuclear programme if that is indeed what they want," she said.

Speaking on American television, Ms Rice said the EU3 wanted to show Iran that it had two options. It could either defy the international community and face isolation and UN Security Council action.

The EU has trodden this path before, with little to show for it except wasted time and a bit of diplomatic humiliation. They offered economic incentives to Iran last summer, but the mullahcracy pointedly and loudly rejected the offer by asserting their right to the nuclear cycle. It was that failure which has led to the US-prompted IAEA and UNSC actions against Teheran. Nothing said by Iran's leadership have indicated any willingness to bend.

However, Russia and China insisted on more diplomacy during this week's meetings of the permanent UNSC meetings, even though diplomatic channels have produced nothing, not even with Russia's offer to supply Iran with nuclear fuel. This will allow another few weeks to pass with no resolution to the crisis, giving Teheran that much more time to continue its enrichment process unfettered.

The carrot has proven itself insufficient for motivating Teheran. It's time to start unveiling the stick if we want Iran to get serious about negotiations.

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