Muddled down in Iraq, and with our international credibility tanked by lies about non-existent Iraqi WMDs, the Iranians are able to act with impunity and even define themselves as the pre-eminent power brokers in the Middle East:

Iran warns over nuclear impasse

IAEA board will meet Thursday to discuss proposed resolution

Wednesday, August 10, 2005; Posted: 9:18 p.m. EDT (01:18 GMT)

VIENNA, Austria (CNN) -- An Iranian official has warned European countries against "coercive" measures in the diplomatic standoff over its nuclear program as Tehran removed the U.N. watchdog agency's seals from its Isfahan nuclear processing facility.

The International Atomic Energy Agency's governing board is scheduled to meet Thursday afternoon to discuss the issue after Iran announced it would resume operations at its Isfahan uranium conversion plant.

Cyrus Nasseri, Iran's chief delegate to the watchdog agency, told CNN that European countries should "think twice" before taking any action that might be considered "coercive."

"That would be a course of action that would lead to a situation where everyone would lose," he said.

In talks Wednesday, Nasseri dropped a not-so-veiled hint that Iran could push world oil prices higher if the West tried to block its nuclear program, according to a Western diplomat who attended discussions in Vienna.

The Iranians also hinted that they could help ease -- or worsen -- trouble spots in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria, the diplomat said.

The threat came on a day when crude oil futures hit a new high of nearly $65 a barrel in trading in New York.

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This is the legacy that idiot in the White House is leaving to the American people - gas at $3.00 a gallon and a revitalized Islamic fundamentalist state in Iran. Osama Bin Laden has outfoxed George Bush and his neocon keystone cops. This is why unnecessarily squandering precious resources Iraq was such a bad idea.