Vice President Joe Biden earlier refused to confirm to CNN that the George W. Bush-era plan was being shelved.

But he did explain the logic of doing so, saying Iran — a key concern for the United States — was not a threat.

“I think we are fully capable and secure dealing with any present or future potential Iranian threat,” he told CNN’s Chris Lawrence in Baghdad, where he is on a brief trip.

“The whole purpose of this exercise we are undertaking is to diminish the prospect of the Iranians destabilizing that region in the world. I am less concerned — much less concerned — about the Iranian potential. They have no potential at this moment, they have no capacity to launch a missile at the United States of America,” he said.

Imposing swift additional sanctions against Iran over its nuclear programme would be a “serious mistake,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday.

“Today there is a real chance to conclude talks whose results should be an agreement restoring trust in the purely peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear programme,” Lavrov said in televised remarks.

“Disrupting this chance by demanding swift imposition of sanctions would be a serious mistake,” he added. 

Oh, damn never-mind; I guess I was wrong. This must be this smart power Obama is brining to the table. Not to worry, he has a plan right? I sure hope so! Maybe he will write Putin a "strongly worded letter" urging him in this matter, because that will do the trick.

Either way it is all irrelevant because Iran does not have the capabilities to make a bomb yet right? This is all speculation on the assumption that they could possibly make it.

Experts at the world’s top atomic watchdog are in agreement that Tehran has the ability to make a nuclear bomb and is on the way to developing a missile system able to carry an atomic warhead, according to a secret report seen by The Associated Press…

The document says Iran has “sufficient information” to build a bomb. It says Iran is likely to “overcome problems” on developing a delivery system. 

Damn, wrong again. Would you look at that? It is not clear what that exactly means, but it sounds like Iran's is in almost the same situation Japan is. They have figured out how to enrich weapons grade uranium, and have the necessary centrifuge technology to do the job when needed. However, the better question at hand is just how many centrifuges are in their arsenal.

On to that minor detail about a missile delivery system. Obama assured us that our crack in Iran intelligence thinks Tehran will be focused on short and medium range missiles in the near future. Therefore, there is no immediate need for a robust missile shield. There is no reason to distrust this assessment is there? It is not like Iranian intelligence has been wrong in the past right?

In a remarkable feat of doublespeak, Obama and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates have tried to portray the move as an embrace of missile defense that will enhance our security. Rather than focusing on long-range threats from Iran, they say, the United States now will concentrate on short-range threats.

That’s an example of short-range thinking. A robust system of missile defense never has demanded such trade-offs. Instead, it calls for a sophisticated architecture that counters threats in different forms. Intelligence estimates have forecast that Iran could develop intercontinental rockets by 2015. This morning, Obama and Gates insisted that these estimates are mistaken. If Iran has in fact slowed down its work in this area — a claim that national-security experts have questioned — it may have been in response to American determination to construct a NATO-approved system in Eastern Europe. Today’s announcement may persuade Tehran to reconsider and look for ways to exploit a new vulnerability. As Donald Rumsfeld once warned, weakness is provocative.

Even still, it is not like we have any ally's close to Iran correct? As for the Russian response to all of this, you will be certainly pleased to know that in return for not interfering with the Kremlin in eastern europe, Russia's foreign ministered decided to release this statement:

“American has always cared only about its own interests, and those of others only serve the US. Now we have another example of this,” he said in a television interview. “I can see what kind of policy the Obama administration is pursuing towards this part of Europe. We should reconsider our approach to the United States.”