What the Iranian president's rant was really about

Indeed, the recent pronouncements of the president constitute a clear violation by Iran of its obligations under article 2(4) of the UN charter, which reads: "All members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state."

This is one of the fundamental principles articulated in the UN charter. A violation of its terms, other than in self-defence or with the authority of the Security Council, is considered to be wrongful, not only to the state against which force is used or threatened but to all states. Any threat to international peace and security is an offence against the entire international community.

In President Ahmadinejad's rhetoric - denouncing the West for imposing a disgrace on the Islamic world and calling for a global wave of revenge - we can hear not only the contemporary hate-ideology of Al-Qaida but also a more ominous echo of Adolf Hitler's rantings against the Jews and the Treaty of Versailles in the 1930s. The large rallies across Iran last week that were imbued with holy hatred are no less portentous than those that were held in Nuremberg during the Nazi era.

The gravity of the threat is precisely the sort of matter that should be determined by the UN Security Council under article 39 of the charter.

The opportunity will soon arise as the IAEA board is scheduled to meet in Vienna on November 24 to decide whether it will refer Iran's nuclear case to the UN Security Council.

If there is such a referral and the Security Council were to conclude that Iran poses a serious danger to international peace and security, it would then have to decide what measures to authorise against Iran. These measures include possible economic sanctions, diplomatic isolation and, as a last resort, the use of force. Little wonder that some Iranian officials have subsequently declared that Iran has no intention of attacking Israel.

President Ahmadinejad, however, is Iran's head of state. As one Iranian analyst, Mohammad Sadeq Hosseini, argues: "Ahmadinejad has clearly declared the doctrine of his government." And it has been reported that during the past few days, the instruction issued to Iranian embassies around the world is to stand firm against criticism of their president.

So why has President Ahmadinejad chosen this time to hark back to the ferocious slogans of the 1979 Islamic revolution and to call for the obliteration of Israel as the Islamic world's first priority in its wider battle with the West?

One answer may be that he and his hardline supporters are sending a signal that the Iranian regime has no intention of being deterred from its goal of acquiring nuclear weapons. An Iranian Shi'ite bomb to match the Sunni bomb of US-aligned Pakistan may well be his contribution to Iran's pursuit for regional hegemony.

This is not business as usual in the Middle East. Far from it.