Imagine a pious Muslim faced with a ban on fabricating a certain kind ofweapon. He is committed to obeying unquestioningly the fatwas of hisreligious leader and yet discovers that producing such a weapon, or threateningto do so, is a strong lever for gaining benefits from a powerful group living inthe neighborhood. Replace "a pious Muslim" with "Iran," and"a powerful group" with the 25-member European Union (EU), and theabove sentences aptly sum up the current Iranian-EU relationship.