Marshall:

Don’t give me that party line crap.

“And finally, the US has never expressed its intent to destroy Iran and has stated it has no intention of attacking.”

Oh really, my dear Simon Bar Marshall? Do you also believe in the tooth fairy?

Look. Just read Scott Ritter’s “Target Iran”; then you’ll understand what the REAL Israeli/US position is.

“The Israeli/US position toward Iran is, “We don’t believe you - even though we can’t provide any firm evidence that you have a nuclear weapons program, and neither can the IAEA. In fact, no matter what you say, we don’t believe you, so we’re going to invade and destroy you.””

Your paragraph is totally fabricated.  First, the US position is unified with the UN (yeah, that means France too), so this isn’t a “US/Israeli” position.  Second, the IAEA has expressed its strong suspicions of Iran as well including examples of weapons grade nuclear material found at their sites and Iran has failed to comply with legitimate UN resolutions.  Third, Iran has been offered an excellent package if it only agrees to suspend enrichment whilst talks take place - a formula used successfully with other countries in the past.  And finally, the US has never expressed its intent to destroy Iran and has stated it has no intention of attacking.

The US/Israeli position is that Iran must not be allowed to enrich uranium at all, even for peaceful purposes. The NPT guarantees all countries the right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes.

Has North Korea agreed to give up its right to enrich uranium even for peaceful nuclear power generation? The article doesn’t say. That omission by itself makes the article’s comparison between Iran and North Korea so inadequate as to be asinine.

All we know is: NK agrees to give up its nuclear weapons program. Fine.

But please, how is this a “template” for Iran? Iran ALREADY agrees not develop nuclear weapons. And Iran is ALREADY fully open to inspections.

The Israeli/US position toward Iran is, “We don’t believe you - even though we can’t provide any firm evidence that you have a nuclear weapons program, and neither can the IAEA. In fact, no matter what you say, we don’t believe you, so we’re going to invade and destroy you.”

The US/Israeli neocons have agreed to this deal with NK for one reason: to tidy up this matter and get it off their desks as they gear up for their vicious onslaught against Iran.

Iran’s economy is really hurting. They might not need the same energy aid as North Korea, but they do need help. The fact that Iran has done so well politically because of Bush’s mistakes might make them even more likely to negotiate. They might see it as a win/win situation. There’s no reason they can’t have nuclear power, as long as the enrichment is done elsewhere. (Of course, Ahmadinejad DOES want nuclear weapons, but that’s not universally popular in Iran.) The biggest problem is the current leaders in both countries, but that’s just a temporary situation.