Chapter 8, Part 3 Summary

In late 2001, the Bush Administration was in a dilemma over how to treat the nation of Iran. Long having been considered hostile to the United States, and an active sponsor of state terrorism, Iran had been assisting the U.S. in their Afghanistan operations and was leaning towards supporting a U.S.-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein in Iraq. The Taliban had seized power in Afghanistan in 1998 and had also assassinated nearly a dozen Iranian diplomats at the time. This led to an uneasy cooperation between the U.S. and the Iranian government, led by Mohammad Khatami. But Israel wanted the U.S. to get tough with Iran because they believed the government was rapidly pursuing an atomic-bomb project.

The original atomic program was abandoned after the Shah of Iran was overthrown in 1979, and the country spent nearly ten years...