On Monday, the U.N. Security Council finally made good on its threats to slap more sanctions on Iran for its nuclear arrogance. For those keeping score, that's three sets of sanctions... and counting.

The council vote was nearly unanimous that Iran must suspend its program for enriching uranium, a sure path to a nuclear weapon. The resolution calls for nations to inspect cargo to and from Iran to ensure that it does not contain nuclear- or missile-related equipment. It also extends financial sanctions to Iran's largest bank.

That's enormously encouraging because only a few months ago, it looked as if much of the steam had been drained from international diplomatic efforts to stop Iran's march toward nuclear mastery.

The main reason: a National Intelligence Estimate from America's spy agencies. It concluded that, contrary to previous assessments, Iran's secret program to build a nuclear weapon was mothballed in 2003.

In recent weeks, Michael McConnell, the nation's director of intelligence, suggested that he goofed in emphasizing the weapons program over the much broader and more dangerous issue of uranium enrichment. Testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee, McConnell said, "I think I would change the way that we described the nuclear program. I may have put it up front with a little diagram, what are the component parts, so that the reader could quickly grasp that a portion of it was halted and there are other parts that continue." The message is clear: Once Tehran has mastered the ability to highly enrich uranium, building a bomb wouldn't take long. Iran's nuclear program continues, and it is dangerous — to the Middle East and to the world.

Credit American intelligence agencies for making Iran's nuclear shell game clearer last week to members of the International Atomic Energy Agency. The agency's senior inspector laid out a two-hour briefing, compliments of American intelligence, including documents, sketches and even a video that appeared to have come from Iran's own military laboratories. The inspectors were said to be "riveted." The most recent evidence strongly suggested that Iran had tried to design a missile that could contain a nuclear warhead, a claim Tehran has denied.

On Monday, agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei underscored international frustrations, urging Iran to stop stonewalling inspectors and clear up questions about its alleged weapons development activities.

There's no indication that this round of sanctions or even rounds four, five and six, if they happen, will stop Iran's nuclear program. But with this vote, at least, the council signaled that it wasn't intimidated or bamboozled by Iran's bombast and deception.

The Security Council shouldn't play that game with Tehran. It's for suckers. Keep the pressure on Tehran.

— Chicago Tribune

It was good to see a federal judge last week wipe away his own earlier ruling and reinstate the Wikileaks.org Web site, which publishes information from whistle-blowers. The reversal rightly preserves First Amendment rights on the Internet, which were trampled by the judge's mid-February injunction that forced Wikileaks to go dark.The developments serve as a lesson that courts must tread carefully before curtailing free speech rights, even in an age when words can spread instantaneously on the Web. Online speech, like words in print, deserve full First Amendment protections.Swiss bank Julius Baer sued to silence Wikileaks after it published information suggesting the bank was being used for money laundering and tax evasion. The judge's earlier injunction was overly broad and tantamount to shutting down an entire newspaper because of one offending article. And it also amounted to "prior restraint" on the media, which courts have almost always found to violate the First Amendment.Organizations such as Wikileaks can expose injustice and hold powerful institutions accountable. Courts must not roll back or chip away at free speech protections that ensure the public good is served.<i>— San Jose (Calif.)Mercury News</i>