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Reasons for U.S. and EU opposition to Iran's nuclear program

 

Iran resumed Uranium enrichment on 8 Aug 2005 under the leadership of its new President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, despite pleas from the EU-3 (Great Briton, France, and Germany) and warnings from the U.S., Iran claims its nuclear program is solely for peaceful energy purposes and that it has the right to develop such a program.

 

Under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Iran and other non-nuclear states have the right to develop peaceful nuclear energy programs.  Also, nuclear states are encouraged to share peaceful nuclear technology with non-nuclear states in exchange for the assurance that non-nuclear states will not in-turn develop a nuclear weapons program.

 

The NPT is an international treaty signed by 187 nations, including Iran and the United States, that seeks to:

• Prevent non-nuclear nations from seeking nuclear weapons by enticing them with international support for peaceful nuclear energy programs.  These peaceful nuclear programs will be monitored by the international community.

• Promote regional treaties forbidding nuclear weapons (nuclear free zones).

• Reduce (and ultimately eliminate) the nuclear arsenals of nuclear nations.

Despite Iran's right under the NPT to develop a peaceful nuclear program, the U.S. and the EU remain determined to halt Iran's program.  The reasons for the U.S. and EU position include:

 

1.  Iran is considered by many (including the U.S.) to be the largest state sponsor of terrorism.  Concerns exist that Iran will provide nuclear weapons to the terrorist organizations it supports, such as Lebanese Hizballah and the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), or become less constrained in its terrorist activities if provided a nuclear shield.  Consider several related articles:

• U.S. Says Iran 'Most Active' State Sponsor Of Terrorism

• "While there are certainly plenty of Saddam loyalists among the terrorists fighting against us, they are receiving support from Damascus and Tehran"

• Some Bombs Used in Iraq Are Made in Iran, U.S. Says

• Britain and US warn Iran over links with Iraq rebels

• Iran's Plan

• Rumsfeld: Roadside bombs 'unambiguously from Iran'

• U.S. now classifies Iran as major threat in Iraq

• Khobar Towers 10th anniversary (indictment)

• Hezbollah, Illegal Immigration, and the Next 9/11

• The 1994 bombing of the AMIA building: A case study in Iran’s use of Hezbollah as a terror contractor

2.  Iran may be executing a nuclear "breakout strategy," whereby it intends to use its peaceful nuclear energy program to mask a covert nuclear weapons program.  Once Uranium enrichment efforts and other technology hurdles are conquered under the cover of a peaceful nuclear energy program, a nuclear weapons program can be rapidly completed before diplomatic or other pressures can be brought to bear.

• Tackling the Hard Cases in Nuclear Proliferation

• Nuclear weapon design

3.  Iran remains vocally and operationally committed to the destruction of Israel.  Iran, through its financial and operational support for Lebanese Hizballah, maintains an active effort to destroy Israel.  Its acquisition of nuclear weapons would improve its ability to work toward this end.

• Iran does not formally recognize Israel's right to exist, and Iranian authorities have called for Israel's destruction

• Israel: Hizbullah funding missiles that could reach airport

• Iran Leader Calls for Israel's Destruction

4.  The acquisition by Iran of nuclear weapons may provoke other nations to follow suit, such as Saudi Arabia.  This proliferation of nuclear weapons throughout the Middle East may further destabilize the region.  Also, several regimes in the region, such as Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, are susceptible to overthrow by Islamic radicals whose ideology embraces suicide terrorism.  Nuclear deterrence is unlikely to succeed if certain parties believe suicide will be rewarded.

• Reassessing the implications of a nuclear-armed Iran