Should Iran Be Allowed to Have Its Own Nuclear Power - Research Paper Example

?Should Iran be allowed to have its own nuclear power? The conflicts between Iran and America are intensifying because of Iran’s reluctance in accepting America’s demand to stop Iran’s ambiguous nuclear projects. America believes that Iran is developing nuclear power not for peaceful purposes but for providing arsenal to terrorists and to attack America and Israel. It should be noted that Iran is extremely different from America in terms of politics, culture, religion and social activities. Iran Suspects that the nexus between America and Israel is for destroying Islam from this world. Iran and many other Muslim countries believe that America is trying to baptize the whole Islamic world. America’s double standards in terms of foreign policies towards Israel and Muslim world are causing big concerns in the Islamic world. Many people believe that Israel already have nuclear arsenal and hence there is no point in criticising Iran’s efforts to acquire nuclear power. Many others are of the view that allowing Iran to acquire nuclear power may intensify the problems in the Middle East. This paper analyses the arguments in favour and against allowing Iran to become a nuclear power. Opponents of Iran's nuclear program often argue that Iran should opt for the more economically efficient electricity from natural gas-fired power plants. Such arguments are also not valid. A recent study by two MIT professors indicated that the cost of producing electricity from gas (and oil) is comparable with what it costs to generate it using nuclear reactors — not to mention the adverse effects of carbon emissions or the need to preserve Iran's gas reserves to position Iran in 20 or 30 years as one of the main suppliers of gas to Europe and Asia (Sahimi et al.). It is a fact that the available fossil fuels stocks in this world are sufficient enough for 30 or 40 more years. Industries are developing rapidly and the automobile uses are increasing every day. Under such circumstances, it is necessary for all the countries to look for alternate energy sources. Iran publicly says that they are trying to develop nuclear technology to meet their energy needs. It is a fact that energy crisis is a big problem in most of the countries. Since the fossil fuel is exhausting rapidly because of the increased exploitation, it is necessary find out alternate energy sources. Many countries turned their attention towards nuclear power to solve their energy crisis. For example, India is establishing a series of nuclear power stations across their territories to solve energy crisis. Under such circumstances, disallowing Iran from acquiring nuclear power cannot be justified. At the same time, many reports have shown that Iran is trying to develop nuclear arsenal rather than nuclear power stations in the name of energy crisis. In other words, Iran is trying to utilize nuclear power for destructive purposes rather than constructive purposes. Heated public rhetoric has filled the newspapers and radio broadcasts since Summer, 2003, warning that Iran is nearly ready to produce nuclear weapons and that, if she were ever to actually produce those weapons, she would be an unacceptable risk to her neighbours and to Israel through direct military confrontation. Further, Iran is said to be ready to supply global terrorists with nuclear weapons, thus posing a risk to the United States, to Great Britain, and to the European Union (Nuclear Armed Iran Vs. America – Whom Should The World Fear?). If Iran is trying to develop nuclear arsenal for destructive purposes, then they should be prevented from doing so. It should be noted that the destructive power of nuclear arsenal is unimaginable. Nagasaki and Hiroshima have shown us the destructive power of nuclear weapons. The damages caused by the nuclear weapons in Nagasaki and Hiroshima are negligible compared to the capabilities of modern nuclear weapons. Under such circumstances, UN like global agencies is trying to prevent countries from developing nuclear arsenal. A war between two nuclear powers may cause huge damages not only to the participating countries but also to other countries. Iran on the other hand argues that Israel is threatening the Muslim people in Middle East only because of its superior military power. Many people believe that Israel have already developed nuclear arsenal even though they are not ready to accept it publicly. Under such circumstances, it is necessary for Iran like Muslim countries in the Middle East to develop nuclear arsenal to negate the threats from Israel. The supporters of the above argument cite examples from India and Pakistan. They argue that India and Pakistan came close to another war in recent times, and the fear or using nuclear weapons prevented both the countries from starting a war. Political analysts say that if Iran is allowed to develop nuclear arsenal, Israel may not continue its massacres in the Middle East. According to a Middle East political expert, Dr. Mordechai Kedar, Iran is beating America in the fight for leadership in the Middle East. “The coalition that Iran has created to fight American interests: Syria, Lebanon – particularly Hezbollah – Gaza, Turkey (supposedly a military partner of Israel!), Venezuela, Cuba and many other Third World countries is causing problems to America” (Kedar). America believes that Iran has certain hidden agenda in the development of nuclear arsenal. Westerners do believe that Iran is an uncivilized country. They argue that Iran does not have the wisdom of using nuclear arsenal judiciously. In their opinion, blind enmity with America may force Iran to use nuclear arsenal irresponsibly. Charles Hauss (2010) pointed out that “The Islamic republic that overthrew the Shah and has ruled Iran since the 1979 revolution is in many respects a rejection of everything western and modern”(Hauss, p.307). In short, plenty of people in this world believe that Iran may not have the necessary maturity and wisdom in handling nuclear arsenal. It is already suspected that Pakistan’s nuclear scientist Abdul Kader Khan helped Iran immensely in developing nuclear technology. Many politicians and scholars argue that nuclear arsenal of Pakistan and Iran may reach the hands of terrorists, knowingly or unknowingly. Nobody can expect what may happen if that happens. Under such circumstances many people argue that third world countries should not be allowed to develop nuclear arsenal. One of the interesting and surprising facts about Iran’s nuclear project is that America helped Iran in the past in developing nuclear technologies. It was the U.S., in the early seventies of the last century, who had dangled the nuclear generated electricity carrot to the Shah of Iran and had offered to build 5 to 7 nuclear power plants throughout Iran. However, ran was shocked by the exorbitant cost of the American plants, and opted for two power plants from the German Kraftwerkunion/Siemens who commenced their construction at Bushehr in 1974. The first of these two reactors, slated for operation in 1981, was 85% completed when the Islamic Revolution in Iran broke out in 1979. Before that, the U.S. had already granted Iran a research reactor which was built and commissioned in Tehran University in 1967 (Khadduri). Not only America and Israel, but also the Muslim countries like United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia has strong concerns about the acquirement of nuclear arsenal by Iran. These countries have strong political differences with Iran. Christopher Hope (2010) quoted a “WikiLeaks” revelation and pointed out that “the king of Saudi Arabia privately urged the US to attack Iran to destroy its nuclear weapons program” (Hope). Even though Saudi Arabia and UAE are Muslim countries, they do not have belief in Iran. They believe that Iran is trying to become the sole superpower in the Middle East. Iran and Iraq were the prominent powers in the Muslim world. The military power of Iraq has been exhausted now because of the Iraq war. However, Iran’s military power is still superior to the military power of other countries in Middle East. Iran did have a habit of threatening its neighbors in the past with the help of its military power. Iran has a habit of claiming ownership on many of the lands and islands owned by UAE and Saudi like countries. Therefore these countries have big concerns in allowing Iran to become a nuclear power. In short, Iran’s nuclear projects are causing threat not only to the Westerners and Israel, but also to the Middle East countries. Under such circumstances, many people believe that allowing Iran to become a nuclear power will be suicidal. To conclude, Iran’s effort to develop nuclear power can be justified; however, its effort to develop nuclear arsenal cannot be justified under any circumstances. Iran is a sovereign country and it has the authority and freedom to develop any technologies as far as those technologies may not cause any harm to global peace. However, the words of Iranian political leaders are not so encouraging as far as global peace is concerned. Iran should allow neutral observers to visit its nuclear laboratories and they should convince the world that they are developing only nuclear power plants rather than nuclear arsenal. Works Cited 1. Hauss, Charles. “Comparative Politics: Domestic Responses to Global Challenges” 2010. Publisher: Wadsworth Publishing; 7 edition (January 1, 2010) 2. Hope, Christopher. “Wikileaks Sparks Diplomatic Crisis With New Revelations”.2010 Inpendent.ie. Web. 02 January 2013. 3. Kedar, Mordechai. “Iran vs. America”. 2009. Jewish Times. . 02 January 2013. 4. Khadduri, Imad. Iran’s Nuclear Capability: To Produce Energy Or To Obtain The Bomb?. Web. 02 January 2013. 5. “Nuclear Armed Iran Vs. America – Whom Should The World Fear?”. Web. 02 January 2013. 6. Sahimi, Mohammad., Mojtahed-Zadeh Pirouz and Afrasiabi, Kaveh L. . “Energy : Iran Needs Nuclear Power”. Web. 02 January 2013. Read More