On Iran

Some articles to get up to speed on current goings-on regarding Iran, presented here in reverse chronological order:

• "Iran to Become an Established N. State" (Fars News Agency--apparently Iran's "semi-official" news agency, Dec. 18):

  Government Spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham said that Iran will be announced as an established nuclear state during the coming Ten Day Dawn (1-11 February) ceremonies.

• "Mr. President, If I May Be So Bold..." (John Hinderaker for Power Line, Dec. 14):

  Commandeer a half hour in prime time to tell the American people, and the world, that we have clear evidence of Iran's involvement in killing American servicemen. Show the captured munitions. Explain exactly how they have contributed to American casualties. Display aerial photos of the training camps. No doubt there is much more evidence that can be presented or described.
  
  You should say that Iran's supplying of weapons in order to kill Americans is an act of war. In the dramatic finale of your speech, announce that thirty minutes earlier, American airplanes stationed in the Middle East took off, their destination, one of the munitions plants or training camps of which you have shown pictures. That training camp, you say, no longer exists. You say that if Iran does not immediately cease all support for, and fomenting of, violence in Iraq, we will continue to strike military targets inside Iran.

• "Iranian Weapons Arm Iraqi Militia" (Jonathan Karl and Martin Clancy for ABC News, Nov. 30.):

  U.S. officials say they have found smoking-gun evidence of Iranian support for terrorists in Iraq...

• "Getting Serious About Iran: A Military Option" (Arthur Herman in Commentary, Nov. 2006):

  Unless the current regime and its backers are willing to change course, decisive military action could open the way for an entirely new Iran.
  
  The key word is “decisive.” What has cost us prestige in the Middle East and around the world is not our 2003 invasion of Iraq but our lack of a clear record of success in its aftermath. Governments in and around the Persian Gulf region are waiting for someone to deal effectively and summarily with the Iranian menace. Saudis, Jordanians, Egyptians, and others—all feel the pinch of an encroaching power. The longer we wait, the harder it will be to stop the Iranian advance.
  
  ... Do we intend to dither until suicide bombers blow up a supertanker off the Omani coast, or a mushroom cloud appears over Tel Aviv, before we decide it is finally time to get serious about Iran?