The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports today that Iran plans to vie for one of the temporary seats on the UN Security Council that will be vacant in September 2009.
Iran’s timing is a little off. According to AFP, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday lashed out at his Western foes (including three permanent members of the UN Security Council) that demand Iran halt its sensitive nuclear activities, saying they were “racing to hell”.
It’s also hard to believe Iran would get a temporary seat in light of the ruling of a federal judge yesterday who ordered Iran to pay more than $2.6 billion to nearly 1,000 family members and a handful of survivors of the 1983 Marine barracks bombing in Lebanon that killed 241 soldiers. Read the story of how Iran rejects that ruling here.
The audacity of Iran never ceases to amaze. See our recent issue of inFocus for more on the Iran threat.