This hearing comes at a critical time in Iran’s decades-old quest to acquire nuclear weapons. Just last Tuesday, on October 21st, Iran and the foreign ministers of France, Germany, and the U.K. issued a declaration in which Iran accepted some of the key demands of the international community with respect to its nuclear program. That declaration was, in the words of President Bush, a “very positive development.” But it was only a first step and hardly an indication that Iran has abandoned its hopes of having nuclear weapons. Achieving a durable and verifiable termination of Tehran’s nuclear weapons program will require sustained, unified efforts by the United States, the Europeans, the Russians, and many other interested parties in the months and years to come.