The heat of the crisis has been on the rise in recent weeks as Israel plans to conduct air raids on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Meanwhile, the US and its allies are conducting history’s biggest mine-clearing exercise in the Persian Gulf. The act is a tough message by Western countries to discourage any possible action by Iran to accompany other diplomatic and economic measures.

On September 23, foreign ministers of the UK, France, and Germany sent a request to Catherine Ashton, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, to call for tougher measures to be imposed on Iran.

Although details of the new measures are still being drawn up, they will be discussed by EU foreign ministers at a meeting in Brussels next month.

Earlier this month in Cyprus, foreign ministers of the UK, France, and Germany urged other EU members to agree on new sanctions against Iran after negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 – the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany – failed to achieve any breakthrough.

The US on September 22 refused to grant visas to 20 Iranian officials including two ministers who had planned to attend the UN General Assembly conference this week in New York.

Earlier US Congress approved tough sanctions against Iran to restrict its oil and gas exports, slowing its economic development and making it harder to finance its uranium enrichment programs. The US Senate passed a resolution binding the US to do all it can to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

Meanwhile, in an interview granted to the Washington Post on September 24, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said he is ready to make a deal to reduce Iran’s enriched uranium storage but expressed his doubts about the West’s goodwill in negotiations. 

Ahmadinejad said Iran’s nuclear program is not a serious threat to Western countries that it’s just an excuse to sabotage his government. At the UN meeting on September 24, Ahmadinejad criticized Western powers for abusing their veto power when dealing with the Iran nuclear issue and for allowing the profaning of Islam. Tehran has been flexing its own military muscles in response to Western gestures.

On September 24, Tehran unveiled its Hoveyzeh ultra-light armored vehicle and its Talaeiyeh armored personnel carrier, which were designed and built by Iran’s Defense Industries Organization. The vehicles can be mounted with various weapons, easily be transported by airplane or helicopter, and are easy to maintain.

In a televised speech on September 23, Amir Ali Hajizadeh, a brigadier general in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said that Iran could launch a pre-emptive attack if it believed Israel was preparing to attack it.

The same day, the Iranian Air Force announced plans for a large-scale maneuver between now and next March.

Although Russia and China have strongly criticized sanctions imposed on Iran by the West, the West hopes to force Tehran’s compliance without Russian or Chinese interference.