EU-U.S. trainwreck over Iran? by Arnaud de Borchgrave
In an otherwise flawless diplomatic performance, Secretary of State Rice threw a spark-plug wrench in the fragile machinery of trans-Atlantic rapprochement.Rice, the second woman to hold America's top diplomatic job, told a breakfast meeting in Paris, Iran is a "totalitarian regime" the United States would not talk to. Ranking officials rankled in all three European countries. Rice's position was deemed absurd. The United States holds the only sticks and carrots that might conceivably make a difference. Sticks, short of military action, would be a U.N. Security Council censure of Iran and economic sanctions. Iran can circumvent any sanction regime by buying whatever it needs across the Gulf, in Dubai or Oman, an emirate and a country that enjoy close relations with Iran. EU3 countries would continue trading - via Dubai.
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