In spite of the recent statements of Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Motttaki at a press conference at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in which he called on the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council to "correct their past mistakes" and end the council's role in Iran's nuclear affairs, the council is moving towards passing a third sanctions resolution against Tehran for its refusal to stop its uranium enrichment program.  The draft resolution agreed upon by the five plus Germany calls for more monitoring of Iran's military and financial institutions, broader travel bans on key Iranian officials and nuclear scientists, and freezing the assets of people and banks linked to weapons proliferation.  The Islamic Republic keeps making the mistake that Russia is its friend, all the time forgetting that Russia has much broader and more important world geopolitical interests than Iran, and it will always act to protect those interests and its world standing.  Instead of relying so much on Russia and China and alienating itself further from much of the rest of the world community, the Islamic Republic should stop its enrichment program for a while and return to negotiations and develop better relations with western nations. 

On a positive note Iran is continuing its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency and has agreed to answer all remaining questions about its nuclear activities within one month.  This pledge was made during talks between Iranian leaders and the head of the IAEA, Dr. Mohammed ElBaradei when he visited Tehran in January.  Iran's aim is to settle all issues in time for ElBaradei's next Iran report to the IAEA’s 35-nation board in early March.  However, this will not be enough for Washington and its allies, and further sanctions will continue until Tehran stops developing its enrichment program as specified in the UN Security Council resolutions.