Please stop kidding yourself and get real. The "hostages" affair has shown which regime is weak, and its not Iran's. UK was beaten fair and square and still you have enough nerve to call Iran weak. So what does this mean? Does it mean that UK and US still will attack Iran just because its weak? Or there will be another false pretex like WMD in Iraq? Is this what UK wishes? You have to be very careful what you wish for, sometimes your wishes may come true.
As another point, "hostages" affair has shown that UK as a country is dumbing down. On every level, starting from your PM and ending with "hostages" themselves the lack of spine, courage, decency and wits has been evident. Without the support of US, the UK is a hollow mummy that has very little weight on the world stage. And no matter how you spin this story, you won't be able to hide this. So please ease up on Iran. You can strike this country, but you won't be able to defeat it. Use UN and negotiations, not force.

Oleg, Toronto, Canada

Ah the usual apologists for the Iranian regime come out of the woodwork. As Orwell said, those who "are so fond of balancing democracy against totalitarianism and ‘proving’ that one is as bad as the other are simply frivolous people who have never been shoved up against realities". You may have a problem with Israel's foreign policy or indeed its not-so-secret nuclear programme, but to attempt to equate it to Iran is just ignorant.

SDB, Cambridge,

Crashing kid
You fail to realize that Israel has never threaten or promised to destroy anyone and despite some very grim circumstances in 73, did not employ the use of it’s nukes. Iran on the other hand has made threats to Israel and talked about wiping them off the face of the earth, do you want people like that to have nukes? The Russians and US were rational about their nukes and never lost sight of the cost of using them. Giving Nukes to radical religious types that think the afterlife is more important than this life means that they have far less concerns about the effect of their actions in this world.
Iran is not under any threat of invasion, it is clear that the US can not afford to take on a country nearly twice the size of Iraq. The purpose of the nukes is to make themselves a regional superpower and threaten their Sunni neighbors.

Colin Parkinson, Vancouver, Canada

"why should Israel have nuclear weapons and not Iran?"

The reason is quite simple. Iran is dedicated to the destruction of Israel. Israel is not dedicated to the destruction of Iran.

Dr. Keith Anderson, Durham, England

The trouble is that Iran has a valid case - why should Israel have nuclear weapons and not Iran?
One comment says that Iran is 'aiming to erode the credibility of the west' but the west has no credibility. There were no WMD, so Blair and Bush went to war anyways in a move that has only allowed Iran to increase it's influence in the area.
Surely Iran has earned the right to be treated with respect - after all, it is only trying to prevent another Sunni administration in Iraq and better itself by claiming more influence in affairs it is interested in.
You see, it is not about who is on the right or wrong side. In the UK we can see that politicians are no more honest than anyone else - they are simply career people trying to get to the top of their profession and gain as much influence as they can for themselves. It is no different in Iran.

crashing dashing kid, wirral, uk

This is a country... which has signed the world's largest ever oil and gas deals to supply China for twenty years, which collaborates closely with the very active Shanghai Co-operation Organisation (a serious defence pact joining Russia, China, and a number of several Central Asian republics), holds large-scale naval exercises jointly with India, who also look to Iran for long term oil supplies, and which has been handed power in Iraq by the stupidity of the war and its aftermath. Iran carries very much more weight than most commentators seem to realise. It would be in our interest to treat the country with rather more respect. It is, after all, largely as a reaction to mindless US hawkishness that the current reactionary regime was voted ino power.

Mick Citizen, Cardiff,

"it is unfortunate that Iran has shut the doors to IAEA inspectors."

I don't believe it has. A fresh count of centrifuges will be made shortly. More detailed inspection on the manufacture of centrifuges can be done only through the Additional Protocol of the NPT, to which Iran does not yet subscribe.

Does anyone have any more detail on this?

Tony Gold, Bournemouth, England

I think that this is a naive take. We have to remember that Iran's target audience is not us, so what we think of Iran's recent behaviour is irrelevant. Iran seems to be aiming to erode the credibility of the west. As a theocratic state, Iran knows all about the power of image and belief. If Iran manages to reduce the credibility of western power, it has won a round, and what we think of its malevolence is neither here nor there.

jon livesey, Sunnyvale, CA/US