Will the US attack Iran?

Iran's desire to build nuclear weapons is beyond doubt, says Nick Louth in the Daily Reckoning. The question is - what will the West do about it? With the US bogged down in Iraq and President Bush increasingly unpopular, many believe America's appetite for another war is diminished - but are these observers underestimating the determination of the neo-conservative lobby?

At its root, the spat now threatening the third Gulf War since Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990 is simple. The West claims that Iran, a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, is attempting to build nuclear weapons in contravention of its commitments under cover of pushing for nuclear power. These fears are well founded.

In 2002 an exiled Iranian revealed that Tehran was working on uranium enrichment at a secret underground facility at Natanz. By 2nd February this year, the International Atomic Energy Agency was able to circulate at its board meeting a 15-page Iranian document, detailing procedures for casting enriched uranium into hemispheres. This shape is relevant only for nuclear weapons, not nuclear energy.

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