Should Force be used if necessary to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons?
Should force be used if necessary to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons?
Already Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi had ambitious goals back then: he wanted to build twenty nuclear reactors. But four years after this announcement he made a mistake: he let his responsible official for nuclear energy declare that no nation has the right to determine another nation’s – in this case Iran’s - nuclear policy. He also said that Persia is going to have nuclear weapons, without a doubt and faster than one might think. This aroused suspicion among US president Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, they were afraid Iran strove after plutonium for the construction of nuclear weapons instead of using it for energy production. But what about the current leader of Iran, Hassan
Rouhani? What is his goal? What does he pursue with his atomic program, and is it really as peaceful as he says? I am going to take a look at Iran’s nuclear program, its development over the past years and try to give a suggestion about how the international community should proceed in this conflict.
First off, I will not be able to decide whether or not force should be used to prevent Iran from acquiring, testing or using nuclear weapons. This decision cannot be made based on the information I use and analyze in this paper because there are many factors more that need to be considered, I probably can’t even think of most of them. Nonetheless I am going to focus on arguments against the use of force against Iran because I support pacifistic solutions in world politics.
Before we even look at the whole nuclear crisis and the reactions from the international community, we need to take a closer look at Iranian politics to understand how and by
1
whom decisions in Iran are made. Even though the U.S. and the Iranian governments seem to have a lot in common, there a big differences between. The most obvious one is that Iran is an Islamic theocracy, led by a “Supreme Leader”, who has ideological and political control
Already Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi had ambitious goals back then: he wanted to build twenty nuclear reactors. But four years after this announcement he made a mistake: he let his responsible official for nuclear energy declare that no nation has the right to determine another nation’s – in this case Iran’s - nuclear policy. He also said that Persia is going to have nuclear weapons, without a doubt and faster than one might think. This aroused suspicion among US president Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, they were afraid Iran strove after plutonium for the construction of nuclear weapons instead of using it for energy production. But what about the current leader of Iran, Hassan
Rouhani? What is his goal? What does he pursue with his atomic program, and is it really as peaceful as he says? I am going to take a look at Iran’s nuclear program, its development over the past years and try to give a suggestion about how the international community should proceed in this conflict.
First off, I will not be able to decide whether or not force should be used to prevent Iran from acquiring, testing or using nuclear weapons. This decision cannot be made based on the information I use and analyze in this paper because there are many factors more that need to be considered, I probably can’t even think of most of them. Nonetheless I am going to focus on arguments against the use of force against Iran because I support pacifistic solutions in world politics.
Before we even look at the whole nuclear crisis and the reactions from the international community, we need to take a closer look at Iranian politics to understand how and by
1
whom decisions in Iran are made. Even though the U.S. and the Iranian governments seem to have a lot in common, there a big differences between. The most obvious one is that Iran is an Islamic theocracy, led by a “Supreme Leader”, who has ideological and political control
Bibliography: “Council on Foreign Relations”. Council on Foreign Relations, Web. 28 Sept. 2014. Web. 28 Sept. 2014. http://www.iaea.org/newscenter/focus/iaeairan/iaea_reports.shtml "Iranindustry.de - country Infos ." Iran Industry.de Country Infos Rourke, John T. Taking Sides: Clashing Views in World Politics. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2014. Print. "The Iran Primer." Iran 's Nuclear Program. 28 Sept. 2014. http://iranprimer.usip.org/resource/iransnuclear-program "The Iran Primer." The Politics of Iran 's Nuclear Program