So, is Iran a threat or a victim? Although it has no previous history of aggression, Iran continues to disturb the international community with its nuclear programme, while declaring that it is under threat from its neighbours and the victim of propaganda. Yet why does a country with such large reserves of oil and gas need a nuclear industry? This question arose as long ago as the early 1970s, and it arises again today. The Shah was a ‘Gaullist’, Khomenei a Gaullist ayatollah, and today it is not the Ayatollah but the Gaullist posture that is the more disturbing. A Blairite ayatollah will surely suit Washington nicely.