News stories by Daisaku Ikeda (*)

In recent months, the dispute over the nature and intent of the Iranian nuclear development programme has generated increasing tensions throughout the Middle East region. When I consider all that is at stake here, I am reminded of the words of the British historian Arnold Toynbee, who warned that the perils of the nuclear age constituted a 'Gordian knot that has to be untied by patient fingers instead of being cut by the sword.'