Iran

New York Times reports, World Nuclear Panel to Refer Iran to U.N. Security Council

In a move that could change the course of international diplomacy towards Iran, the 35-nation board of the International Atomic Energy Agency approved a resolution on Saturday to report the country's nuclear case to the United Nations Security Council.The resolution, which passed 27-3 with five abstentions, opens the door for the first time to possible punitive action against Iran in the New York body over fears that it is developing a nuclear weapon.

Cuba, Syria and Venezuela voted against the resolution. Algeria, Belarus, Indonesia, Libya and South Africa abstained.

On January 15th, we'd predicted as follows:

Oh, and by the way, Iran will be referred to the Security Council -- likely unanimously. Why? Because, if everyone casts their vote against Iran, Iran couldn't pick on anyone for retribution.

Well, we didn't get full consensus -- but did get the next best thing. The three no-votes are from countries facing ongoing conflict with the West -- the abstentions, other than South Africa, are not really surprising.

We did get here a consensus (after much posturing) among the world's great powers, including India. This clears the deck for a laser-like focus on the more important US-India Nuclear Deal.