Iran's Nuclear Program and U.S National Security

Iran's Nuclear Program and U.S National Security

Introduction

There has been a lot of debate about Iran and its nuclear weapons program in the international circle. Many countries, including the United States, have condemned Iran for this and have repeatedly asked for a nonproliferation of its nuclear capabilities. While many people all over the world view the situation is Iraq as being a very dangerous one, there are many people, for instance the people of Kuwait, who feel that there is a more serious and closer threat at hand from Iran. The government of Iran has been favoring its nuclear program and most of the Americans believe that the Iranians are highly unstable people and thus Iran's nuclear capabilities are considered to be a very large threat to the rest of the world, even bigger one for the countries in the Middle East. Everyone knows that Iran has the capability to assemble nuclear weapons in the matter of weeks.

Analysis

The nuclear capability of Iran is a big threat to US security since it would make the region of Middle East very unstable. There are, however, some elements that are resisting this US position over Iran's nuclear program. A recent article published on MSNBC entitled “Merkel resists US pressure over Iran sanctions,” talks about how the US should not exert more pressure on Iran in terms of sanctions, etc.

Iran has been a mischief for a long time and it has been testing the limits ever since 1985. Iran signed the NPT (Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty) then but has since failed to adhere to the restrictions. It has also not allowed having its nuclear facilities inspected by the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency), which is part of the NPT. Although inspections of the facilities did commence in 1992, a new problem arose that identified that Iran was in fact drawing up plans to build up nuclear weapons. Many efforts were made by the United States to try and stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons and these have extensively been reported. The United States and European countries agree that a nuclear Iran, which would violate the 1970 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), would create more instability in a region that is already troubled.

Also, Iran's long-range missiles will make much of the European continent vulnerable to a nuclear strike. However, the United States and the prominent trio of the European Union--Britain, France, and Germany--differ on the means to the end. The former seeks to confront Iran with military pressure and the threat of economic sanctions backed by the UN Security Council, while the latter seeks to secure Iran's cooperation in the inspection of its nuclear sites and suspension of its uranium enrichment program through an offer of economic assistance. Both have demonstrated respective “stick” and “carrot” approaches to Iran, which may work well to propel nuclear negotiations, however tense, forward without provoking confrontation.

A nuclear facility in Iran, is known to employ some three thousand scientists and researchers, ...