The United Nations Security Council has told Iran that it must stop enriching uranium by this Thursday (August 31), or else it could face economic and political sanctions. So what did Iran do? It called the UN resolution “illegal” and inaugurated a massive heavy-water reactor capable of producing plutonium for nuclear weapons.

How long before the UN, Europe and America realize the futility of negotiating with Tehran? Every flouted resolution and rejected deadline reveals the deep nature of Iran’s desire for nuclear weapons and its unwillingness to compromise on this goal.

This past Saturday, with potential economic and political sanctions just days away, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad very publicly and defiantly inaugurated one of his nation’s largest and most productive heavy-water plants. The spent fuel from the heavy-water reactor can be reprocessed to extract plutonium for a nuclear weapon.

After the formal opening of the facility, Iran’s state-run television quoted Mohammed Saeedi, the deputy head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, as saying the heavy water plant is “one of the biggest nuclear projects” in the country (cbs News, August 26).

In his speech, the Iranian president reiterated that “Iran would never abandon what he once again called its purely peaceful nuclear program” (ibid.).

Most countries in Iran’s position would at least try to lay low and not do anything to incite the situation further. But not Ahmadinejad; instead, he laughed in the face of the UN deadline by staging this formal event. If he spent this past Saturday celebrating the expansion of his nation’s nuclear program, does anyone really believe he is going to spend this Thursday signing an agreement to stop enriching uranium?

Now the big question: What will be the penalty for Ahmadinejad’s rejection of the resolution? There most likely won’t be one. “Iran experts generally agree that the council is unlikely to impose any sanctions, at least right away, and that it is even less likely that future sanctions, if any, would be especially harsh” (San Francisco Chronicle, August 27).

The West’s negotiations are fruitless because they are toothless!

This growing history of meaningless negotiation and endless compromise is making it evident that nothing short of brute force is going to stop Iran from seeking nukes.

Don’t expect Europe to remain forever cowed by Iran’s shenanigans. History and biblical prophecy both indicate that the day is coming when brute force is exactly what Europe will use against Iran, the war-mongering king of the Middle East.