The first thing Mahmoud Ahmadinejad did when he came to power was purge his diplomatic corps.  The fanatics of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard pushed out the career diplomats of the more softly spoken (and corrupt) Mullahs like Rafsanjani. This week Knight—Ridder reports one result: The new Iranian diplomats just "privately threatened the European powers" at the United Nations in New York.

In a story that quickly disappeared from the headlines, Jonathan Landay reported:

"Iran menaces European powers

Tehran tells Britain, France and Germany it will retaliate if Security Council halts uranium program

Iran has privately threatened Britain, France and Germany that it will escalate the crisis over its nuclear program "beyond Europe's control" in retaliation for any steps the U.N. Security Council takes to force it to abandon uranium enrichment.

Iranian diplomats delivered the warning orally in meetings Monday with foreign ministry officials in London, Berlin and Paris, said a U.S. official and a Western diplomat who spoke only on condition of anonymity, citing the sensitivity of the issue. It was left unclear how or whether the Islamic regime would fulfill its threat. Germany and France are Iran's largest trading partners.

The Iranians could resort to the same measures they could use to carry out a threat to cause "harm and pain" to the United States, including terrorism and disruptions of global petroleum supplies. Iran is the world's fourth—largest oil producer. "They were not specific" about retaliatory steps they might take, the Western diplomat said. "It was difficult to interpret. It was all based upon the brinkmanship rhetoric that we've come to expect from them."

It's hard to know how often countries "privately threaten" each other at the UN, but career diplomats tend to be soft spoken. Since three European nations were threatened in exactly the same terms — Britain, France and Germany — it's pretty obvious that the messages came from Tehran itself. This is not some rogue Khomeiniac going bananas.

The story quotes a "Western diplomat" saying that the message "was difficult to interpret." Oh, yeah? In recent days Ahmadinejad and his gang have threatened the flow of oil to the West (which means attacking tankers in the Persian Gulf). They have repeatedly threatened to wipe Israel off the map. They have promised "pain and suffering" to the United States. And they have threatened terrorist assaults abroad, just like the ones Ahmadinejad ran as head of the al Qods Brigade in Lebanon, Israel and Iraq. That includes blowing up the US Marine barracks in 1981, sponsoring Hezbollah terror attacks in Israel and Lebanon, and today, making shaped—charge IEDs to blow holes in US tanks in Iraq.

Judging by this man's history, he means it when he makes a threat. Mahmoud is a professional killer. The big question is: when will he attack? Before or after he gets nukes?

Jacques Chirac recently told the Iranians that France also had des Oignons Grands.

Well, this is Mad Mahmoud's answer.

If you try to kill the King, you cannot afford to fail.

James Lewis   3 18 06