COMMENT The slow-motion referral of Iran to the United Nations Security Council has moved on a step, with last week's report by the UN nuclear watchdog that it is unable to judge where Tehran's opaque nuclear programme is heading. The International Atomic Energy Agency was able, however, to confirm Iran's recent claim that it had made a breakthrough in the enrichment of uranium. That is a step towards mastering the technology needed to make a nuclear bomb, even though the Islamic Republic insists its intentions are entirely peaceful.
While Iran's theocratic leaders remain confidently defiant, the brittle consensus binding the US, its European allies, and Russia and China is starting to crack. This is ominous.
