Iran is under mounting pressure from within and without. Just as the international community is becoming increasingly concerned about Tehran's nuclear program, the regime faces increasing domestic unrest. Conspiracy-minded individuals see the two as linked, the product of U.S. efforts to undermine another member of the "axis of evil." In fact, the controversy surrounding Iran's nuclear program is not an American fabrication; the International Atomic Energy Agency is worried, too.
The street protests are the result of rising frustration among young Iranians. The religious conservatives' attempt to maintain their stranglehold on the country is creating the hunger for freedom, not the United States.
There have long been suspicions that Iran has a clandestine nuclear weapons program, but those charges have taken on new urgency. A new IAEA report allegedly concludes that Tehran has failed to comply with international nuclear-safeguard agreements. The IAEA document argues that Iran secretly acquired about two tons of uranium from China a decade ago.