George Bush and Iran

An interesting interview of Benjamin Netanyahu in this week's Speccie linked here, by Allister Heath, from which the following gives a taste:

To Netanyahu, the rise of Iran’s extremist regime is the defining geopolitical event of our times; the whole world, not just Israel, is in its sights. Dealing with Tehran is therefore the West’s greatest challenge; he is scathing about many Europeans’ refusal to recognise the Iranian regime’s imperialistic and murderous ambitions. But to my great surprise he is absolutely convinced that America will soon step in, one way or the other, to prevent Tehran from going nuclear, and that this will happen at some point during the remaining two years and three months of the Bush presidency.

‘When President Bush said that he will not let Iran develop nuclear weapons, I take him at his word,’ he said, quietly. ‘How he plans to do it of course is up to him..... We must wait for the next pronouncement from the Finnish foreign minister to learn what the EU' s position on this will be (see post below) but I suspect he will be opposed. If strong pressure is now being applied on Iran, some sense can perhaps be made of the Nato engagement in the Helmand province of Afghanistan, a deployment which otherwise seems to me to have no achievable purpose whatsoever.