There have been a number of articles on the PBS frontline program
about Iranian bomb. Here is my $0.02 on this and related subjects.

One is curious to know the real reasons behind this and related
public relations campaign about Iran in recent months. These include:

1) Attempts to implicate Iran in the bombing of the New York Trade
   Center. Despite great efforts in this direction they have not
   succeeded in this. They, however, have indirectly created
   the impression that Iran is behind the rise of fundamentalist
   Islamic movements and thus are indirectly implicated in this matter.

2) Public statements by the Secretary of State Christoffer and
   other official sources regarding Iran being a terrorist and
   outlaw state.

3) And finally the recent broadcast of the Frontline program. I 
   suspect that this PR campaign against Iran will continue and
   perhaps intensify.

Why this increased pressure on Iran? A number of factors may have
been behind this. These include:

1) The rise of Islamic movements in North-Africa and radical
   Hamas movement in the Israeli occupied territories. This
   movement is basically anti-western and is not necessarily
   fueled by Iran. The cause for accelerated pace of this 
   movement is probably the Gulf War which sought to return
   colonial Shieks and Amirs to their throne in the name of
   democracy and freedom. Also, the obvious support of Algerian
   military coup against the democratically elected Algerian
   Islamic Front which clearly exposed the democracy myth.
   A further cause of this may be the daily broadcast of the news
   on the slaughter of Bosnian Moslems.

2) Possible future implications of this movement in Saudi Arabia
   and other US client states and endangerment of the cheap oil
   sources from this region.

3) A need to create an enemy as an excuse for huge defense
   expenditures. This has become necessary after the demise of
   Soveit Union.

The recent PR campaign against Iran, however, seems to be directed
from Israel rather than Washington. There is no fundamental conflict
of interest between Iran and the US and in my opinion, it is in the
interest of both countries to affect reestablishment of normal
and friendly relations. This may have a moderating effect on the
rise of radical movements within the Islamic world and Iran .