War has not yet been waged, but both Iran and the United States are doing their best not to avoid it. The Iranian leadership continues to pursue its nuclear programme, heedless of UN concerns. The Bush administration partakes in dangerous "provocations" (Gary Sick) on Iraqi soil, and does not exclude military intervention. Between the two lies Europe. The paths to war are infinite and implicate the role of Western intellectuals, who unwittingly risk strenghtening the current regime at a time when President Ahmadinejad is at ist lowest point and there are rumours of divisions amongst Tehran’s top ranks.