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GUEST: Niki Akhavan, Board member of the US Chapter of “Campaign Against Sanctions and Military Interventions in Iran,” and a media analyst.

Iran is due to respond tomorrow to an offer for a deal in exchange for suspending it’s uranium enrichment program. Uranium enrichment makes fuel for reactors but can also produce the raw material for atom bombs. The deal is a package of incentives offered by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany, known as the P5+1. Iran has already made it clear that it will refuse. Meanwhile, a Security Council resolution passed last month gives Iran until August 31 to suspend enrichment or face the prospect of embargoes. The US has repeated its warning that Iran would be penalised if it failed to abide by the resolution. A White House spokeswoman said, “We have made clear that if Iran fails to comply with the Security Council’s mandate, we will move quickly at the United Nations to impose sanctions.” Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani said of the US in early August, “If they do [impose sanctions], we will react in a way that would be painful for them. They should not think that they can hurt us and we would stand still without a reaction.”

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