Hillary the Obliterator

Sen. Clinton has developed a record of paying tough gal in the final days leading up to primaries. Recall the "3 am Red Phone" ad that she ran in the 11th hour of the Ohio and Texas primaries.

In the weekend run-up to the April 22 Pennsylvania primary, Clinton brought the tough talk again; this time, the target was Iran. Sen. Clinton promised she would "obliterate" Iran with nuclear force if they were to launch an attack on Israel.



Sen. Clinton pitches her threats as "deterrence theory." In doing so, she completely neglects the most pressing issue facing our country: Iraq.

One of the Bush Administration's greatest failures in the handling of the Iraq War has been the complete absence of serious diplomatic talks with Iraq's neighbors. Everyone acknowledges Iran's meddling in Iraq, typically coming in the form of providing aid to Shia militias. If Sen. Clinton truly desires to end the war in Iraq, she will need to engage Iran, most in direct talks, a pledge Sen. Obama has made. What effect will Clinton the Obliterater's tough talk have on diplomatic relations with the Iranian government?

An AP report has the answer:

Iran's deputy U.N. ambassador, Mehdi Danesh-Yazdi, called an April 22 statement on ABC by the New York senator, who is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, "provocative, unwarranted and irresponsible" and "a flagrant violation" of the U.N. Charter.

...

Danesh-Yazdi's letter said Clinton "unwarrantedly and under erroneous and false pretexts threatened to use force against the Islamic Republic of Iran."
The Iranians sent the letter to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and asked that he circulate it to the Security Council.
The council has imposed three rounds of gradually tougher sanctions on Iran for refusing to suspend uranium enrichment. Iran insists it is enriching uranium to produce nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, but the U.S., key European nations and other countries suspect Tehran's real motive is to eventually produce nuclear weapons.
In the letter, Danesh-Yazdi said "Iran is a leading nation in rejecting and opposing all kinds of weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear weapons." He added that Iran has repeatedly declared "that nuclear weapons as the most lethal and inhumane weapons have no place in the defense doctrine of the country."
Iran has also campaigned to make the Middle East a Nuclear Weapons Free Zone since 1974, he said.
"Moreover, I wish to reiterate my government's position that the Islamic Republic of Iran has no intention to attack any other nations," Danesh-Yazdi said. "Nonetheless ... Iran would not hesitate to act in self-defense to respond to any attack against the Iranian nation and to take appropriate defensive measures to protect itself" as authorized under the U.N. Charter.