Iran To Aim For UN Security Council Seat

By Cernig Iran says it wants a UNSC spot. A spokesman for the foreign minister in Iran said his country applied for a position as a non-permanent member of the U.N. Security Council. Foreign Ministry spokesman Seyed Mohammad Ali Hosseini told reporters at his weekly news conference Sunday that Iran applied for a seat on the Security Council for the years 2009 and 2010, the Fars news agency reported Monday. The spokesman also said "Iran is not opposed" to talks with the United States over security concerns in Iraq, adding Tehran was awaiting U.S. response to their views. The spokesman said, however, the talks were not a sign of the normalization of diplomatic relations with the United States. Watch the US Right's outrage if this one gets even close to happening. Yet, on a practical level, such a move would come at a time when there could be a thawing in US/Iran relations in the wake of a new US presidency and probably also a new Iranian president. And there's no denying that a detente with Iran would help defuse a whole bunch of issues, from Iraq and Afghanistan to nuclear proliferation and tensions in the wider Mid East. Being forced together in the UNSC chamber wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing for either nation or for the world.