...with China sharply reducing its purchases of Iranian oil and demanding steep discounts [...]
Part of the joke is on the USA and its 'Yes Men' allies. China's playing both sides of the chess board here -- on the one hand, keeping a UN-sponsored conquest at bay (affectively forcing the US to pave the way to war through Israel); and on the other hand, appearing to slap the wrist of Iran with a
reported reduction of purchases and the demand for discounts on whatever amount they choose to continue to buy.
This much is certain: the US and Israel better steer clear of interupting the trade route between Iran and China -- a fact that India and others would be foolish not to capitalize on.
...the fanatics running the country will not give up their nuclear weapons and long range missile programs, no matter how much pain they cause the Iranian people, and these programs will have to be destroyed by military force. [...]
That tact simply isn't going to work in this day and age of widespread distrust of the west. The FIRST time a
US-bunker-buster-masked-by-the-Israeli-flag reaches the sort of target the US is really after (namely the pipeline and/or other oil production and transfer facilities), the Chinese and Russians will rip off the mask and stand with Iran in a much more meaningful way than they've been able to thus far. Nobody with an ounce of common sense is willing to give the United States the benefit of the doubt any more -- and WWIII may well be waiting in the wings because of that.