[Image]After months of posturing and heated rhetoric, we've reached what appears to be the end of the road. The US, Israel, and their western allies have painted Ahmedinejad into a corner from which he cannot escape without surrendering his pride and the independence of his nation's domestic policies."The Islamic Republic of Iran considers retreat over the nuclear issue ... as breaking the country's independence which will impose huge costs on the Iranian nation," Khamenei said, according to state television.

"This path is irreversible and the foreign policy establishment has to bravely defend Iran's rights," [Khamenei] told the diplomats.

In a nationally televised speech, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also vowed to resist pressure from the Security Council, saying "no power" can take nuclear technology from Iran.

"They should know that through propaganda, political pressures and games they play nowadays ... (they) can't prevent the Iranian nation from pursuing its path," he said, referring to the West.How can the US expect this strategy to work? What do they think they'll achieve? They may have military might, but they're fighting a losing battle when it comes to hearts and minds."[The] Enemy should know that Iranian nation will not keep calm against plots and heads of the bullying state should know that they are viewed as the most hated individuals by all and Iranian nation's slogan is the voice of all nations," said Ahmadinejad in an address to the locals.Ahmedinejad is not only charismatic, enjoying broad and strong support from his countrymen, but his courageous stand against the world's greatest superpower has transformed him into a global legend. Ahmadinejad called on the people to "be angry" at the pressure being put on Iran.

"Listen well," the president said to a crowd chanting "die" as they punched the air with their fists. "A nuclear program is our irrefutable right."Much to their chagrin, the man's a hero. A sling-shot is the only thing that's missing in this image of Ahmedinejad's last stand against the neo-con Goliath.

To attack Iran without more, would be a strategic disaster. The neo-cons must have something else up their sleeve. Even if Iran defies the Security Council, goes ahead with full scale enrichment, AND decreases its oil output, something more would have to happen before the neo-cons could "sell" this war to the American people and the world without risking serious reprisals, even if only economic.

They wouldn't dare attack now with nothing more to justify their brazen aggression than an uncomprimising opponent and some threadbare evidence cooked up by dissaffected political dissidents. The West would not only incur the political wrath of its own populations, but they would unleash the unbridled fury of the world at large.

As it stands now, the Security Council is at an impasse. China and Russia insisted . . . that negotiations with Iran be allowed to continue. France, Britain and the US want political pressure on Iran to stop its uranium enrichment activities.Wednesday, the permanent members meet for the fifth day of talks, while the whole council is expected to meet again Thursday or Friday.

The question remains, what provocation do the neo-cons have planned and when will it unfold?