Surprise: Ahmadinejad backs Obama

Realizing that the last thing he needs right now is for Mitt Romney to become President of the United States, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has decided to try to help the Obama campaign by announcing a 'suspension' of uranium enrichment three days before the US election.

Mohammad Hossein Asfari, a member of parliament responsible for foreign policy and national security, was quoted as saying that the move was a "goodwill" gesture, aimed at softening Iran's position before a new round of scheduled talks with the United States after this week's presidential elections.

Asfari said he hoped sanctions would be lifted in return for Iran's actions, otherwise it would resume the programme, according to a website belonging to the Al Arabiya news channel. Talks aimed at halting Iran's enrichment programme have made little progress, leading to the west tightening sanctions and increasing the prospect of military action by Israel.

There's just one small problem: Enriched uranium is not what stands between the current state of affairs and Iran going nuclear.

Here's a set of slides that summarizes the current state of affairs (more here).

The Iranian Nuclear Program: Timelines, Data, and Estimates V4.1 from AEI's Critical Threats Project

In other words, an offer to suspend uranium enrichment is a meaningless gesture intended to help President Hussein Obama's reelection campaign.