‘We will act,’ Peres warns

Two events on Wednesday — Israeli President Shimon Peres’ stark warning about the Iranian nuclear threat and the State Department’s release of its latest report on terrorism — paint a chilling picture of the world that the United States may be entering in the next few years: a world in which nuclear-armed rogue states conclude that they can get away with almost anything.

“My heart shudders when I recall that there was a possibility that Hitler could acquire nuclear weapons,” Mr. Peres said in an address marking Israel’s Holocaust Memorial Day. “A leader who plans mass destruction, together with weapons of mass destruction. What would have been left of our world?”

He did not mention Iran or President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad by name, aides to Mr. Peres said he was indeed referring to the Iranian regime. Although Mr. Peres has spoken out before about the dangers of a nuclear-armed Iran, Wednesday’s speech in Jerusalem was still an extraordinary moment. More than half a century ago, Mr. Peres was appointed director-general of Israel’s Defense Ministry. In that position, he oversaw the construction of Israel’s nuclear weapons production complex at Dimona. But for more than 30 years, he has arguably been Israel’s most prominent political dove.

Also on Wednesday, the State Department released its annual congressionally mandated report on terrorism, which concluded that Iran remains the world’s “most active” state sponsor of terrorism, pointing to its support for organizations such as Hezbollah, the Taliban in Afghanistan, and Iraqi militias. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice noted that Iran’s role in sponsoring terror is increasing, pointing to a “belt of extremism that is Hamas and Hezbollah, [supported by] Iran, gives this [Arab-Israeli] conflict a regional dimesnion that it has not had before.”

The terrorism problems described by the State Department have manifested themselves at a time when Iran lacks nuclear arms. Should the regime obtain such weapons, Iran would dramatically increase its ability to complicate (and therefore deter) U.S. or Israeli retaliation for Iranian-sponsored terrorism. Since the 1979 Iranian Revolution, terrorism sponsored by Iran has killed thousands of people worldwide, but Tehran has never faced retaliation from the United States or any of its allies. Tehran is gambling that once it gets atomic weapons, it will diminish the likelihood of military action against its terror infrastructure to near zero.