Attending a world food programme summit in Rome on June 3, Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, declared that Europe was suffering because of the “Zionists” — but went on to reassure his audience that, though Europe was “bearing” the political burden of this “false regime”, Israel would soon cease to exist “with or without” the involvement of Iran. Ahmadinejad’s inflammatory rhetoric is sure to strengthen the view that Iran’s nuclear programme is a problem for Israel — but not necessarily a threat to the West, which can afford to live side by side with a nuclear Iran and somehow deter it, as it once deterred the Soviet Union.