On the 9 February, Iran was supposed to start its production of enriched uranium for medical purpose. It has been reported that Iran set out a plan to begin enriching its stockpile to 20-percent purity, news reports said. That is high enough for use in the medical reactor but significantly lower than the 90 percent levels needed for weapons. The worry is that any effort to produce 20-percent enriched uranium would put the country in a position to produce weapons-grade uranium in a comparatively short time, nuclear experts say.
So it is possible to deduce from this information that Iran is starting to develop a nuclear industry that would be more powerful than it should be. Does this mean that its program will go further? Obviously this is a million dollar question but it is fair to say that the Islamic Republic is trying to see what the limits of the West tolerance are. Ahmadinejad claims that Iran does not need the bomb but it would be naive to believe the man on his word especially after his bold statements notably toward Israel and its presence on the map.
France, Russia and the United States of America pushed for more sanctions on Iran at the UN council. It is noteworthy to observe that Russia, often opposed to sanctions to Iran, is getting worried by the Iranian actions.
In the nuclear world, Iran is surrounded by Russia, India, Pakistan and Israel; does this mean that as a result Iran need to get some nuclear capabilities because it feels threatened? By extension every country in the world should get it as Kenneth Waltz advocated. I believe that it would be a mistake to allow any new country to get the nuclear weapons, not because my country owns it and is capable of sending them anywhere in the world. The spread of these devices would at the same time increase the chance that somewhere a nuclear war would start. In addition, following the principle that the nuclear weapon is a weapon of the big powers, it would mean that any nations with a nuclear weapon could check any others thus creating a chaos in the world hierarchy. Indeed, no one would really like to start a war in which they would lose too much. I for one believe that Iran should not get it because it would motivate more nations to try to get it and also because it would raise tensions in the Middle East and god knows what might happen there. It is also possible that Tehran might not use it all like Pakistan, India or Israel but I would personally feel safer if they just did not have it.
So why would you be safer? Does Iran intimidate you? Or is this just a media game? Even with the capacities do they really want to use it? I think not. I think it is aimed at respect and dominance on the international stage--not nuclear power.
ReplyDelete~PB
from what the iranian president said about Isral (not that i condon their actions but his words were a bit scary), from the type of regime that rule in Iran (the integrated religious aspect), the position of Iran and its place in the "world ladder" and also in the middle east and last but the not least, the opposition between east and west make me wonder if it would be really good to have more nuclear weapons in the world.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it is unfair that some nations possess the nuclear weapon but the past decades have shown that even in a critical situation (i.e. the cold war) they were unwilling to use it through rational thinking.
However the religious aspect is less rational and it is quite possible that the iranian leaders might not be directed by this aspect however they might be able to obtain some conditions that they shouldnt be able to get without this condition through threats of nuclear strikes.
I agree with you that it is aimed at respect but the possibility of the actual use of this weapon remains. I am aware that Pakistan is also strongly religious and that its stability is far from being stable and yet they have not use their weapons. But I would not feel safe if everybody held this possibilty.
In brief I dont believe that this aquisition would benefit the stability (even though it is already in a bad state at the moment)of the world.
-C