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.
