Iran Could Blow Up In Obama's Face

From the German paper, Spiegel:

The world may be focused on Iraq, Afghanistan, and terror in India, but experts say the biggest foreign policy challenge for the next US president will be dealing with Iran. Obama has promised a new approach -- but the risk of failure is great.

Between the financial crisis, bankruptcy in the US auto industry, and terrorism in Mumbai, the television sets in President-elect Barack Obama's transition office in Chicago must be flickering with images from a host of crisis spots these days.

Amidst it all, the news from Vienna could easily be missed: According to information from the International Atomic Energy Commission, Iran now has access to more than 630 kilograms of slightly enriched uranium, is building more and more centrifuges for enrichment, and is barely cooperating with inspectors. A successful nuclear test from Tehran is imaginable within a year, the nuclear watchdog warns.

Obama hasn't commented on the grim news yet. But he doesn't have much time. "It is becoming increasingly urgent to find a new diplomatic pathway to Iran," says Thomas Pickering, a former US ambassador to Israel who now serves on the board of the American Iranian Council.