Iran Cuts Off Oil Exports to 6 Countries; Loads Nuclear Fuel Rods in Research Reactor

I saw a  tweet Jim Pethokoukis that made me do a double take. It read:

BREAKING NEWS: Iran stops oil exports to France, Spain, Italy, three others: Press TV via Reuters

I thought that was kind of a big deal given the financial crises currently going in Europe. Then I saw something else that was more concerning. From AP:

Iran began loading domestically made nuclear fuel rods into its Tehran research reactor on Wednesday, a defiant move in response to toughening Western sanctions over its controversial nuclear program.

The Iranian government is presenting this latest move as another step they’ve made in moving forward with their nuclear program. I think these two events confirm  what I, and many others had suspected: Iran isn’t interested in diplomacy. They want what they want. It looks like things are about to get really interesting over there pretty soon.