Meanwhile, back in the jungle...Iran throws down its challenge to the west

Tehran’s chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani

While we've all been focused on Lebanon, Iran has gotten more and more hardline as the August deadlines approach.

On August 6, in response to the UN resolution giving Iran an August 31st deadline to end nuclear enrichment or face the possibility of sanctions, Iran said it would expand its uranium enrichment projects and threatened that if the United Nations imposed sanctions aimed at halting the atomic program, Iran would respond in a major way. "If they do [impose sanctions], we will react in a way that would be painful for them. They should not think that they can hurt us and we would stand still without a reaction," said Tehran’s chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani. "We do not want to use the oil weapon, it is they who would impose it upon us." Larijani also said Iran would expand the number of centrifuges - used to enrich uranium - it was running.

No matter anyway. The UN is not going to impose sanctions, and even if they did they would be meaningless. This conflict withIran is going to end up being solved in a very different arena than the UN.

Just to add a little icing on the cake, Iran also said it was preparing a set of new nuclear policies over the coming weeks that could be announced if the United Nations implements a resolution ordering it to suspend its uranium enrichment efforts.

'Our new nuclear policies will be disclosed within the next few weeks and they will be definitely different' than so far, said Iranian spokesperson Mohammad Saeidi in an interview carried live by state-television IRIB.

This is one day after Iran totally rejected UN Security Council Resolution 1696 that mandates cessation by August 31, saying it had 'no legal basis.'

Saeidi said there would be no change in Iran's rejection of the UN resolution until the deadline of August 31, 'and there will be no concessions over a temporary suspension, either.'

'Iran has created it own nuclear programme and the government is obliged to provide the country with the latest technology, including nuclear, to make the country reach its deserved status in the region,' Saeidi said.

Iran has said it will make a formal reply to the UN offer on August 22nd. Regular readers of this site understood the significance of the August 22nd date to the Iranians back on July 12th, when they first announced the date. For those of you who didn't see my piece on this previously, are new to JoshuaPundit and wonder why August 22nd, here's the significance of that date.

Stay tuned.