A new report published today has said that Iran has been the chief beneficiary of the so-called 'war on terror'.
The report said the US and its allies had eliminated two of Iran's regional rivals; the Taliban in Afghanistan and Saddam Hussein in Iraq, but had failed to replace either with 'coherent and stable political structures'.
The London-based think-thank, Chatham House, which carried out the report, said Iran was now too important, for political, economic, cultural, religious and military reasons, to be treated lightly by any state in the Middle East.
It said Iran's influence is now spreading even beyond the Middle East to central Asia, Turkey and south Asia.
Meanwhile, the United Nations Security Council is to consider Iran's formal response to a package of measures aimed at convincing Tehran to suspend its nuclear activities.
Yesterday, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, declared his country's readiness to enter 'serious talks' with the six Western powers over his country's nuclear policy.
But Tehran has said it was not prepared to suspend its uranium enrichment programme before entering negotiations.
China says it hopes Iran will pay attention to the concerns of the international community.
