The divine right to a bomb.

Iran's election last week made it clear that the Islamic Republic founded by Ayatollah Khomeini 25 years ago has not evolved as some had hoped into a serious democracy. So the predictable outcome was a victory for the religious conservatives. Iran's leaders insist that they do not want nuclear weapons, and never have. With each new leak, Iran has changed its story. It now admits to having had a secret programme to enrich uranium. Along with Libya and North Korea, it seems to have been one of the main customers of Abdul Qadeer Khan, the disgraced Pakistani who ran a global nuclear-smuggling network. The mere prospect of Iran acquiring a bomb has prompted Israel to ponder aloud the case for a pre-emptive strike. If Iran got the bomb, sometime enemies such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia might feel compelled to follow suit. In short, though a nuclear Iran may not be worth fighting a war to avert, it is a danger worth averting.