China supports the cause of Iran

The Teheran regime is not completely isolated by the major powers of the world. Russia and particularly China claim that new sanctions, and even more so, a military intervention, would not solve the situation in Iran. "Sanctions can not fundamentally fix the problem of the Iranian nuclear program", a spokesperson of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, while Iran is being threatened once again with retaliatory measures. The country immediately responded after the publication of the report of the International Atomic Energy Agency (AIEA), which accuses Teheran of attempting to develop atomic weapons.

After a war of statements, at the highest level, everything has now come to concrete threats. Ten American officers will be killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, if the US assassinates a single Iranian officer, a high ranking Iranian officer, quoted by Fars, said, in response to a proposal to assassinate Iranian military officials made by American experts. "A bunch of empty headed American leaders who seem to suffer from Alzheimer's disease, threaten the commanders of the Revolutionary Guards with assassination [...] You should not forget that American commanders are present in Afghanistan, Iraq and the countries of the region. If you kill one of us, we will kill tens of you", said general Amir Ali Hadjizadeh, Revolutionary Guards Air and Space commander. Some of the American experts said in a hearing before Congress, at the end of October, that the United States should assassinate commanders of the Guardians of the revolution. Jack Keane, former commander of the Joint Staff of the American Land Forces, made this shocking proposal: "These people have killed almost a thousand of our people. Why not assassinate them? I am not suggesting military action, I am proposing covert operations".

Prior to the publication of the report, some of the Western diplomats heavily argued that a new resolution of the Security Council was not required to impose new sanctions. They consider that the United States and its allies need to persuade world countries, India and Turkey in particular, to reduce their trade relations with Iran. The new sanctions would be particularly concerned with the Iranian oil exports, to choke the flow of capital towards Tehran. Jeffrey Feltman, Deputy Secretary of State for the Middle East, commented on the tight relationship between Syria and Iran, and confirmed that Tehran has the "expertise" and technical assistance needed to do evil. He added that Iran must begin to position itself for the "post-Bashar era (ed. note: Bashar al - Assad - Syrian president)", suggesting a change of regime in Damascus, which would mean one less ally for Iran.

The major Western powers weren't always hostile to Iran and its nuclear projects. Ten years ago, British officials have approved the export to Ira of substances which could be used to manufacture nuclear weapons, according to an investigation by the BBC, which revealed at the time that Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) allowed the sale of a volume of beryllium to Iran, even though it was aware of the country's attempts to build a nuclear weapon. In 2001, Great Britain was already the signatory of a treaty which is still in effect, prohibiting the sale of beryllium to certain countries, including Iran. Beryllium is a metal with very few civilian industrial uses, and plays an important part in the manufacturing of nuclear bombs. Roger Berry, the head of the Exports Monitoring Committee, said he did not know anything about these exports. An investigation was later conducted in various ministries, but its findings were not made public.