20 February 2006. A World to Win News Service. The tension between the Iranian regime and the West went up another notch when the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) voted to report Iran to the UN Security Council for possible punitive measures. The prospect of another conflict in the strategically important Middle East set off alarms around the world.

Europe and US united against Iran?

20 February 2006. A World to Win News Service. The tension between the Iranian regime and the West went up another notch when the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) voted to report Iran to the UN Security Council for possible punitive measures. The prospect of another conflict in the strategically important Middle East set off alarms around the world.

After the vote, Iran retaliated by withdrawing from its voluntary agreement with the Agency to allow surprise inspections. (In addition to being a signer of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, under pressure from the European countries in 2004 the Islamic Republic had also signed an additional protocol allowing the IAEA to conduct snap visits to its nuclear facilities.) The Islamic Republic also announced it was resuming small-scale uranium enrichment, loading uranium gas into centrifuges in its Natanz plant.

The US has been accusing Tehran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons, which would be a violation of the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Iran complains that it has made many concessions but that every time more is demanded of it. Both aspects of this statement are true, and may apply to the near future as well.

The Iranian regime also insists that the only purposes of its nuclear programme are scientific research and electrical power generation, well within the treaty limits. The indisputable truth is there is no real boundary wall between “peaceful