There is no doubt that the fuss about Iranian development of nuclear technology is mostly politically motivated. Our interest in learning the science and developing the technology is not new. It started way back in the 1960's when Iran first built the Amirabad reactor for research. An IAEA member from the beginning, Iran also was a voluntary signer of the NPT in 1968, two years before it took effect.
People of Iran do not believe nuclear weapons will make them any safer. Using nuclear weapons in the dense and close quarters of the crowded Middle East is spitting upward, even if you could deliver it to target. The relatively minute radioactive fallout of the Chernobyl reactor reached south over a thousand kilometers contaminating our fields. Imagine what a bomb detonation closer by, with hundreds of times more fallout, will do. Whatever the delivery system, it is also unlikely that it could pass the network of satellite detection and tracking defense systems installed by the superpowers. It will all be a waste of money and our scientists' valuable time. One must not pay much attention to the bullying of some misguided and unwise politicians who might insinuate threats just to feed their own ego. It's simple logic that you can never use a nuclear weapon without hurting yourself.
The science and technology, though, is a different matter. No one has the right to deny a nation the right to learn and develop a certain branch of science. Nuclear science has only little to do with nuclear bombs, just like the science of chemistry has little to do with chemical weapons or blacksmithing with swords. You can always find evil uses for any technology. We have the right, and the duty, to develop nuclear technology to the fullest. A government ignoring this important technology, or succumbing to pressure to stop doing so, betrays the nation and must be held accountable.
We also know that, according to IAEA reports, out of 181 members of NPT, some 54 countries have had violations of the protocol over the years, some more serious than those of Iran . No fuss has ever been made about any of those, except in the cases of Libya and North Korea .
Now, why Iran has been singled out to be the only problem child, it has to do with what the international community or, better said, the powerful members of the international community expect of us. The expectations, valid or not, have to do with our general behavior as a member of the international community and the developing global village, and with our unofficial foreign policy. Notwithstanding the quality and the time-logic of our foreign aims and wants, and whether they are targeted for local consumption or not, a sovereign country has the right to formulate its own norm of behavior so long as it is not in breach of its international commitments and does not adversely affect other sovereign states' national interests.
Another reason for the international concern about Iran 's nuclear program is the fear that the multiple centers of policy-making might increase the risk of the program going a different path than internationally acceptable.
But, above all, I think that the bulk of the opposition to Iran's nuclear program, whether strictly peaceful or not, is due to the pressure from the United States, which itself is under pressure for the fiasco in Iraq and the never-ending Palestinian crisis and the Israeli belligerency. The Americans think they can force Iran to make a deal on these issues. That is, help American policy in Iraq by not undermining the American-designed program for democratization, and not opposing or undermining the so-called "Road map", or what's left of it, for Palestine ; all in return for easing of pressures on Iran on the nuclear issue by looking the other way.
In response, I believe that Iran should steadfastly stand for and promote a world free of nuclear weapons. We should stand not just for non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, but for destruction of all nuclear weapons around the globe, and a new world treaty by which no country shall be permitted to use nuclear technology for weapons and offensive purposes |
