Surprise, surprise.
Iran actually has been working on developing nuclear weapons, according to recent reports following U.N. inspections in Iran.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported last week that Iran performed secret activities aimed toward developing a nuclear device. Following the report came the usual denouncement from Iran of the inspections, but also heightened militant rhetoric toward Iran in the U.S.
After hearing Republican presidential candidates pledge military action against Iran, going so far as suggesting we assassinate Iranian scientists, one wonders how far the U.S. is willing to go. If one of our politicians can call for the assassination of foreign civilians, something is clearly wrong.
Nuclear weapons bring out the worst in politicians. Hell, a large part of the last century came down to a pointless political “whose junk is bigger” debate based around the stupid things. While there are far more details and nuances to the Cold War, the role nuclear weapons played throughout the conflict cannot be denied.
Some people question the report’s legitimacy. While it may not be surprising that Russia condemns the IAEA’s report as “a collection of well-known facts that have intentionally been given a politicized intonation,” there are people who find similarities between it and the reports preceding the Iraq War, like former Congresswoman Elizabeth Holtzman.
She sees far too many similarities between the two. We have yet to find any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, a fact used as the main catalyst for our involvement in Iraq.
We don’t need another ill-planned invasion of another country, especially if such a report isn’t reliable.
Even if the report is true, how can the U.S. declare Iran cannot have nuclear capabilities, when both it and its lapdog in the Middle East have them?
While it’s true Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has openly targeted Israel and called for its destruction, Israel has not been a beacon of innocence since its appearance in the region in the late 1940s.
Given how Israel has launched surprise attacks against neighbors before, who’s to guarantee it won’t be nuclear? If we can accuse Iran of being a dangerous country to have nuclear capabilities, we should simply apply said definition to all countries.
This should be the biggest takeaway from this affair.
Nuclear weapons are horrible things with a terrible amount of destructive potential. Stopping the spread of such weapons is a noble goal and, hopefully, we can dismantle them all.
However, focusing on one country who we cannot concretely say is pursuing such a goal is not the way to go about it. As of now, Iran could easily face severe destruction from either the U.S. or Israel’s nuclear capabilities. It’s not too absurd to think a country that feels threatened by two such states might just want a bit of deterrence.
If we really want the spread of nuclear weapons to stop, especially to certain countries in the Middle East, we need to stop the hypocrisy. We already have more nuclear weapons than necessary to destroy humanity.
Until we can start doing such an endeavor, we really can have no say when it comes to other countries’ scientific advancements.
 
Zachary Davis is a 20-year-old history junior from Warsaw, Poland. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_zdavis.
 
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Contact Zachary Davis at [email protected]