Diana Gregor
'Austria is a small world within the bigger world which challenges it," German dramatist Friedrich Hebbel once said. This quote rings true, especially today. Although it is true that the former empire is in many ways a veritable Garden of Eden - from a political, economic, ecological and cultural point of view it is one of the safest places on earth - a dark stain continues to stretch over Austria's history like an invisible shade.

Peter Zimmerman
Iran has stalled and teased and played the European Union three of Britain, France and Germany as an expert fisherman might handle the big one. For more than 18 years Iran violated its safeguards agreement with the Inter-national Atomic Energy Agency, in effect violating the Non-Proliferation Treaty, by conducting clandestine enrichment research and experiments without declaring them to inspectors.

Claude Moniquet
The question I was asked to answer today is not an easy one: is it any real threat of a wave of terrorist attacks sponsored by Iran, in Europe or in the United States, if a military operation is decided to solve the problem of the Iranian nuclear program? Sadly, I’m afraid the answer to this question is “yes”.

Frédéric Encel
Ethics has its place in geopolitics, contrary to popular belief. Ethics form a fundamental part of politics –otherwise a criminal relativism lies in store. Iran is gaining nuclear power of a specifically military type. This is their openly stated aim, even though Iranian diplomats currently claim the opposite. Iran is currently the third biggest oil-producing country in the world, the second biggest supplier of natural gas and, in addition, it is a country that could very easily install hydroelectric power stations.

Paolo Casaca, MEP
The time for Europe to end our two headed policy on the world's largest state sponsor of terrorism, Iran, is now.  Iran, in violation of the recent unanimous UN Security Council Chapter 7 Resolution, has not only failed to stop enriching uranium, it has said with defiance that it will continue to enrich at a greater pace.

Matthias Küntzel | Download powerpoint presentation
We stand at a historic crossroads. Disregarding Security Council decisions, Iran’s rulers are stepping up their nuclear programme. Will Europe continue soft-soaping the Mullahs or will it show some resolve? Will it accept the fact that, by seeking nuclear weapons, the Iranian dictatorship is escalating its holy war at the gates of Europe? Or will it summon up the will to raise the economic price Iran must pay to a point where the regime – which is facing mounting popular discontent – has to give way?

Matthias Küntzel
During the Iran-Iraq War, the Ayatollah Khomeini imported 500,000 small plastic keys from Taiwan. The trinkets were meant to be inspirational. After Iraq invaded in September 1980, it had quickly become clear that Iran’s forces were no match for Saddam Hussein’s professional, well-armed military.

Wahid Wahdat-Hagh
The ideological goal of militant Islamist terrorism is to found Islamic Sharia-run states, that is,  new caliphates  established on the basis of the anachronistic values of "feqh"-the process of carrying out Islamic law. As history shows, such states would resemble dictatorships similar to those in Afghanistan under the Taliban and today's Iran and Saudi-Arabia.

Geoffrey van Orden, MEP
It is a little known fact that as Iran continues its pursuit of nuclear weapons in defiance of the international community, its school system is implanting another powerful weapon against the West through the minds of its schoolchildren.

Douglas Davis
The international community is unable or unwilling to stop the development of the most potent existential threat now confronting the free world: Iran with a nuclear bomb.

Mehrdad Khonsari
Iran's ruling elite seek to retain power by deflecting external pressures through measures that range from disingenuous dialogue to outright blackmail.

Frédéric Encel
Radical Islam must not be confused with peaceful and traditional Islamic practice, but must also be regarded without equivocation and complacency.