The world though Iran was dangerous when President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was omnipotent. The world was worried about the country’s nuclear programme and the passage of Iranian naval vessels through the Suez Canal.

The world was worried when Ahmadinejad’s ‘government’ cracked down on opposition protestors after the last election. It was also worried when the former guerilla fighter made crazy speeches about terrorism and homosexuality when in the United States.

But Ahmadinejad made a cardinal mistake; he decided to try and take on the ruling clerical elite. To say that he had his wings clipped, is an understatement. Ever since he tried to increase his own powers and take on the Ayatollah, he has been well and truly put in his place.

And since that has happened, extremism has spilled over. The hardliners and fundamentalists in Iran have been galvanized into action, their latest escapade being the torching of the British embassy in Tehran. Iranians took to the streets with petrol bombs and hurled them at the compound, and this is only the start. In fact, it is almost like a re-run of what happened in the 1970’s when Iranians torched the US embassy.

We always say that extremism in any form is a bad thing, but when it is fuelled by rhetoric calling for violence against anything that has to do with the West , then we really are headed for trouble. Iran is almost a pariah state. It also has links to various terrorist networks and has often been accused of aiding and abetting these said organizations in their attacks on Western targets. Just how deep the funding and aid goes, we can only guess at.

Only last month, the US and Saudi Arabia announced that they had foiled a plot by men linked to the Iranian government to assassinate the Saud ambassador to the US as well as to bomb the embassy in Washington.

The balance of power in the Arab world is changing. Syria, long regarded as one of the strongest nations, is changing dramatically and President Bashar al Assad’s grip on power seems to be slipping away, albeit very slowly.

This has caused Iran to up the ante. One wonders, however, whether this surge in anti-Westernism is the work of lifetime leader Ayatollah Khamenei or President Ahmadinejad. But the fact that Iran is plotting to commit crimes on foreign soil is a reminder that this is a dangerous foe. The West has expressed reservations about military intervention, but it is becoming clearer and clearer. Iran wants to cause strife in the West and the regime’s brainwashed supporters lap it up.

The only way that the west can hit back, without resorting to military action, is through sanctions. But that will only serve to enrage more supporters of the regime and the theocracy. Iran is dangerous, there is no two ways about it.