Functionality of the Iranian Military - Research Paper Example

IRAN RESEARCH PAPER Introduction and Research Questions Technological advancements have greatly benefited us in terms of material benefits and conveniences like sufficiency in food, clothing and housing, health care among others. However, along with such gains in convenience and wealth, there are major misfortunes to the world arising from technology. A major disadvantage is that it has enhanced the development of weapons of mass demolition. One of the major countries that deal with the continued production of the weapons is Iran (BBC, 2012. 1). Although Iran argues that its nuclear initiative is completely for peaceful reasons, the program has caused substantial concern that Tehran is pursuing a nuclear weapons program. Iran has been posed in the global scope as a country involved in the manufacture of nuclear weapons. Nonetheless, America and its close allies have not attacked and engaged Iran in a war. In deed the rest of the world have been seeking to determine the America and its associates’ stand concerning the Iranian issue (Johnson 2008). Therefore, the main question for research in this case is, to what extent does the Iran nuclear weapons production activities tantamount to attack and war with the United States and its allies? Considering the complexity of this question in its nature, it would also be right to pose it as what is reason behind the failure of America and its allies to launch war against Iran because of its continued engagement in production of nuclear weapons? The research question for this study is the reason behind the failure of America and its allies to launch war against Iran because of its continued engagement in production of nuclear weapons (Johnson 2008. 2). This is despite it having signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. In this kind of situation, there are several factors which could be the cause of America not to launch a war against Iran. What are the effects of economic sanctions on Iranian military operations and capabilities? The America has opted for economic sanctions in attempt to hamper Iranian nuclear activities. This paper will seek to explore the (BBC 2010.1.) possible effects of sanctions by the American and other foreign governments on the functionality of the Iranian military. Since the inception of economic sanctions on Iran, several operational challenges have been faced by the country’s military that range from inability to secure arms from major weapon markets, to the devaluation of the Iranian currency that has made the arms acquisition process an expensive affair. It is these effects that the paper will comprehensively investigate with the help of scholarly sources. I set myself the essential task of giving insights on America-Iran’s relations with respect to nuclear weapons. I hypothesized that Economic sanctions have hampered Iranian military operations such as the embargo on their transactions and the sanctions on the sale of aircrafts and the repair parts with the US. Another hypothesis is that there are specific factors hindering U.S. from launching an attack against Iran. They include foreign policy, the international law on self-defense and regional instability (Newman 2006.1). Iran has progressed in its weapon generation practices that have the capacity to yield nuclear weapons. As a matter of fact, Iran’s nuclear program has raised concerns for various other reasons. First, Iran has been private about the program. For instance, Tehran hindered the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) investigation by refusing to reveal many nuclear activities, destroying evidence, and making false statements to the agency (Newman. 2006.1). Iran is a signatory of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty Although Iranian government says that the nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes and that Iran has never breached the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty agreement, but the fact is that Iran is continuously working on nuclear proliferation and has repeatedly breached the obligations of the agreement. Looking at this situation, the questions arises that why the United States and allies are showing hesitation in conducting war against Iran as they have done it against Iraq and Afghanistan for somewhat similar reasons. A complementary effort has become a need of today to make Iran fulfill its nuclear nonproliferation obligations. In this research, this point will be taken into consideration as there is not much research done in this regard as yet (Creswell 2003. 226). Despite all this evidence leading to Iran’s nuclear production activities, America has failed to launch an attack on them. The American law makers have been arguing on the matter of Iran for several years especially on whether to attack it and possibly to stop it from its illegal activities on nuclear. Advocates have postulated that Iran is armed and specifically with the nuclear weapons and the best attack would be war. Nonetheless, critics have warned that attacking Iran will result into a fully defined war and this will result into economic crisis globally. The consultants have advised the US to resort to nonmilitary methods to contain the Iran and thwart them from obtaining a bomb. Critics have gone ahead to advise US to learn to live with Iran in addition to their nuclear weapons in case their tactics to impede the Iran from its illegal activities fail (Helman 2012.2). Iran had the capacity of generating nuclear weapons within the first half of the year after its decision. The decision by Tehran to relocate crucial nuclear activities to safer facilities within the following year could shorten the window for efficient military activities even more. In case Iran exorcises the inspectors from IAEA and starts enhancing its uranium resources to weapons quality grades of 90% or sets up superior centrifuges to its uranium-advancement premises in Qom, the US has to strike promptly or give up its last chance to bar Iran from joining nuclear community. This is a clear indication that by now, Iran is fully armed with nuclear weapons and any military strike by the United States would invite a retaliatory attack from a nuclear armed Iran. Iran being a signatory to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, this means that America could use this to wage war against them to stop their nuclear proliferation. This not being the case, it leads to an assumption that America may not have the necessary weaponry to defeat a country like Iran should they enter into a conflict that would lead to war (Panel of Experts 2012.5). Nevertheless, the above assumption may not be accurate since the general interest of America is to keep its citizens safe. Iran therefore has the upper hand in the war for the fact that they have weapons that could cripple the United States of America with a single deployment (Newman 2006.2). Additionally, Iran would have the support of its allies in the Middle East. The location at which the Iranian people are developing their nuclear weapons is another setback for America. Most of the bases that they are using to create their nuclear weapons are near places with the civilian population (Chubin 2003.110). This would mean that if the American state decides to destroy the nuclear plants, then the number of casualties would be far more devastating, resulting into humanitarian crisis. The American nation is at a far greater disadvantage should it decide to attack Iran. There are certain factors that affect the United States foreign policy towards Iran. One factor is the fact that there has been the presence of the treaty that Iran signed about the manufacture of nuclear weapons. With this treaty, Iran has the ultimate power to continue making nuclear weapons, even though their major outcry is that the nuclear materials being developed are to be used for peaceful purposes (Robert 2011.1). One major setback is that even with these claims of not using the nuclear productions, it is unclear that Iran will use the nuclear weapons for peaceful purposes alone or they will use them on their targets. Other reasons why America may not launch an attack on Iran are that it would be against the international law of self-defense where countries are only allowed to attack others when there are justifiable threats. Attacking Iran openly would also drive their activities underground, which would create a more adverse threat to the world security (Ray 2003.21). Having run out of options and in a bid to impede Iran’s nuclear program, America and the International community resorted to impose sanctions on Iran (Newman 2006.10). According to various sources, international sanctions have made it difficult for Iran to obtain components and materials for its centrifuge program. For example, the 2012 U.N. Panel of Experts report observed that sanctions are slowing the procurement by the Islamic Republic of Iran of some critical items required for its prohibited nuclear programme. Similarly, the Panel’s 2011 report stated that sanctions are restraining Iran’s acquisition of items related to ban nuclear and ballistic missile actions and hence slowing thrive of these programs. In addition, Paul Arkwright, then-Head of the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s Counter Proliferation Department, in the Non–Proliferation Fourth Report of Session of 2008–09, June 14, 2009 stated that there is some evidence that sanctions have been able to slow down Iran’s nuclear program. U.S. officials have also argued that the sanctions are impeding Iran’s ability to acquire technology for its nuclear programs. Robert Einhorn highlighted their belief that Iran has had difficulty in acquiring some key technologies and judge this has had an effect of slowing some of its programs. Similarly, Tom Donilon, argued that sanctions and export control efforts have made it more difficult and costly for Iran to acquire key materials and equipment for its enrichment program, including items that Iran can’t produce itself (Robert 2011.1). The US sanctions against Iran have been stretched to media in that financial organizations that do business in Iran understand that they risk being eliminated from the US financial system if they go against the set rules. The rules demand that any funds that Iran raises from the sale of oil to nations granted waivers by US like Turkey, China and India, must be wired to accounts in those nations and not credited to Iran. Further, the funds can only be utilized by Iranian government to buy goods from China, Turkey, or India. Tightening sanctions against Iran would make them review their nuclear weapons program which would ease tension between the US and Iran. From this, the second hypothesis can be developed1. Iranian officials have suggested that Tehran is not yet-self-sufficient in manufacturing all of the necessary centrifuge components. Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization head Abbasi stated during a February 15, 2012, television broadcast that Iran could not claim that it did not need other countries for its enrichment program, adding that domestic production of all items was not economically viable (Panel of Experts. 2012.22). Conclusion For the World Super powers like the United States, Iran’s nuclear proliferation limits their effectiveness in the Middle East. It is therefore significant to note that as long as Iran continues to produce their nuclear weapons, whether in hiding or in plain view, America will continue to find a way to shut down the whole operation and put a stop to it once and for all. America managed to break the tight network of the Iraq people, and with help from its allies and supporters, it is on the verge of defeating Iran. In addition to atomic power, Iran could avoid wrath of any nature whether political or military and the US have to consider their actions in the region owing that Iran is allied to other terrorist groups. Iran conceals itself in other forms of interaction such as diplomacy to avert the war as experienced between Israel and other nations which also lack appropriate safeguard to nuclear weapons. There is a volatile balance between Israel and Iran in regards to nuclear activities that could easily topple in case US engages in their strife. From the fore-going, this implies that at all costs, the world is not safe with Iran having nuclear warheads at its disposal. There have been allegations of efforts by the United States and other governments, including Israel, to sabotage Iran’s centrifuge program. Reports have revealed there have been attempts to demoralize the fundamental systems that Iran depends on especially the network and electrical formations. As per the reliable sources from America, among the attempts entailed critical astuteness investigations disrupting specific power segments that Iran bought in Turkey for Tehran’s centrifuge program. Western governments have reportedly made other efforts to sabotage centrifuge constituents intended for Iran, according to some non-governmental experts (Ray 2003.21). References BBC. (2012). US Expands sanctions on Iran, targeting oil and media. Retrieved 9 February 2013 retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-21361798 Chubin, Shahram, and Robert Litwak. 2003. "Debating Iran’s nuclear aspirations." The Washington Quarterly 26.4: 99-114. Creswell, John W. Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches. Thousand Oaks, Calif. [u.a.]: Sage Publ, 2003. Helman, Christopher. 2012. Israel has nuclear weapon but only Iran has nuclear power. Forbes (October 21). http://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2012/10/21/does-anyone- care-about-irans-nuclear-energy-program/ (accessed 27/1/2013). Johnson, Janet Buttolph, H.T. Reynolds, and Jason D. Mycoff. Political Science Research Methods, 6th Edition, Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, 2008. Newman, I., & Benz, C. R. Qualitative-quantitative research methodology: Exploring the interactive continuum. Carbondale, Ill. [u.a.: Southern Illinois Univ. Press, 2006. Panel of Experts. Pursuant to Resolution 1929 (2010): Final Report, June 2011, 2012 Patrikarakos, David. Nuclear Iran: The Birth of an Atomic State. 2012 Ray Takeyh, "Iran’s Nuclear Calculations," World Policy Journal 20.2 (2003): 21 Robert J. Einhorn, Solving the Iranian Nuclear Puzzle Briefing Series, Arms Control Association, March 9, 2011 Takeyh, Ray. "Iran’s Nuclear Calculations." World Policy Journal 20.2: 21-28, 2003, Tom Donilon, Iran And International Pressure: An Assessment Of Multilateral Effort To Impede Iran’s Nuclear Program. The Brookings Institution, November 22, 2011. Read More