By Andrew L. Jaffee

On Monday, Iran announced that it has “successfully produced the enriched uranium needed to make nuclear fuel.” Today, Iran’s leader took his nuclear saber-rattling to a new level. From the Globe and Mail:

Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad vowed Thursday that Iran won’t back away from uranium enrichment and said the world must treat Iran as a nuclear power.

The comments were made as Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, arrived in Tehran for talks aimed at defusing tensions over Iran’s nuclear program.

“Our answer to those who are angry about Iran achieving the full nuclear fuel cycle is just one phrase. We say: Be angry at us and die of this anger,” the official Islamic Republic News Agency quoted Mr. Ahmadinejad as saying.

“We won’t hold talks with anyone about the right of the Iranian nation [to enrich uranium].”

It is certainly no coincidence that Iran’s rhetoric has flared up even as Mohamed ElBaradei is visiting. Talk about fanning the flames… When Germany was building up its war machine pre-WWII, nobody did anything. Remember what happened?