THE FAST HUSTLE BEGINS - AT 10:56 A.M. ET:  Iran is apparently preparing a diplomatic overture.  From Fox:

Iran is preparing a new package of "political, security and international" issues to offer the West, Reuters reported Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki as saying Saturday.

"The package can be a good basis for talks with the West. The package will contain Iran's stances on political, security and international issues," Mottaki told a news conference.

President Obama said Friday the international community is "not going to just wait indefinitely" for Iran to renounce an interest in developing nuclear weapons.

Speaking as the G-8 summit concluded in Italy, Obama stressed that he and others were not looking for their summit partners to embrace sanctions at this week's meeting. Instead, he said that "what we wanted was exactly what we got" — a statement of condemnation about Iran's actions in the wake of its disputed presidential election.

COMMENT:  This is a period of extreme danger.  The Iranians are skilled diplomats.  They may offer just enough to keep talks going indefinitely, allow Obama to brag about the "success" of his approach, while the centrifuges in Tehran's nuclear program keep spinning. 

And some Europeans will grasp at any talk of negotiations, so they don't actually have to do anything, and can keep their business relationships with Iran strong.

The crunch will come in two months.  The G-8 nations gave Iran until September to show real progress in canceling nuclear-weapons projects.  I suspect that deadline will be allowed to slip if "encouraging" signs are detected in the Iranian attitude.  We've all been here before, especially with North Korea.

This will be a major test for Obama - torn between reality and his party's increasingly delusional left wing.

July 11, 2009