Nuclear Resolution Keeps Pressure on Iran But Lacks Teeth

Emmanule Ottolenghi, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington, told Deutsche Welle the resolution lacks decisiveness.

“I think the resolution is an admission of failure because the IAEA has just published a report which leaves very little room for the imagination on what Iran is doing,” said Ottolenghi who was on a visit to Vienna to speak to the Stop the Bomb coalition, an NGO pushing for further sanctions against Iran. …

Emmanuele Ottolenghi thinks the two Security Council members are happy to see the West's influence in the region diminished.

“I think, in their cost and benefit analysis, they prefer to see the West challenged and cut down to size.”

He says there may also be a cynical calculation. “They would rather be seen in the aftermath of an attack as having sided with Iran rather than having cooperated with those who will attack.”