Asia Times has been having some very interesting articles on Iran. It's worth paying attention.

PART I: The enemy beyond

After the US dismantlement of the regime of Saddam Hussein, Iran has emerged as a major target of the acrimonious rhetoric of the Bush administration and Israel's threats related to that country's nuclear aspirations. Given the fact that Iran's active nuclear program has been the focus of US concern since the early 1990s, it is likely to acquire a crisis situation in the near future.

[more]

PART 2: The US-Israel tag-team act

As the US presidential election campaign is coming to a close and Iraq continues to burn, another dangerous diplomatic tussle is taking place: the United States and Israel are acting as a tag-team against the potential emergence of Iran as a nuclear power. The stakes are high in this tussle. At a minimum, that tag-team will make sure that Iran never emerges as a regional power, challenging the hegemonies of the US and Israel. At worst, the intention of this tag-team is to prepare grounds for a regime change of a different type - not necessarily through military invasion, but by taking concerted actions to weaken the Islamic government of Iran so much that it is ousted from within.

[more]

The dangers of playing hardball

Israel bides its time on Iran

US not ready to rock the boat