While nuclear proliferation is far from funny, I have found endless entertainment in the United States’ interaction with Iran in the past few months.
With each coming letdown, the strained dialogue between our nation and Iran seems to have grown more farcical than forceful.
Iran, as it has for decades, still insists on stockpiling enriched uranium. Typically, uranium enrichment is a country’s right so long as it meets specific standards, especially if it is for energy purposes. The prospects of a blatantly anti-Semitic, armed nation with a political track record involving Hamas and Hezbollah, however, have been met with reluctance by the global community — as they should be.
Interpretations of nuclear enrichment can certainly change when your president speaks at the official World Without Zionism conference, and so the United States and United Nations have taken it upon themselves to coerce Iran into cooperation.
The most recent negotiations ended Jan. 22 at a dead end. To use uranium for energy purposes, Iran needs certain fuel rods made from enriched uranium, and the production of these rods is believed to be beyond Iran’s technological capacity.
The U.S. still maintains Iran should not have the equipment necessary to enrich uranium to a weapons grade within the next several years, though Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad disagrees with these figures.
The Western world proposed Iran should send the bulk of its stock of enriched uranium to another nation that can develop the fuel rods and ship them back, thus leaving Iran with the ability to explore uranium’s energy potentials without possessing enough to enrich to weapons grade.
Iran replied it will not negotiate with anyone until its right to enrich uranium as it wishes is recognized.
So what does the Western world do in light of failed negotiations? Sanctions.
The basic goal is to form a coalition of global enterprises that cooperatively abstains from doing business with Iran, thus straining their economy.
Iran responded by calling the politicians behind the sanctions “politically retarded” and “in cahoots with Zionists.” What’s more, they claim the sanctions aren’t working much anyway and they won’t hinder the nuclear program. Of course, the U.S. is claiming the sanctions have definitely worked to slow Iran’s nuclear program.
Other schemes have also taken hold to impede Iran’s enrichment, many of which are far less conspicuous than international embargoes.
One involved a malware virus called Stuxnet, which was developed in Israel and wiped out about a fifth of Iran’s computers at their nuclear facilities, and recent cable leaks hint at U.S. involvement in the virus’ construction. The other scheme involved Iran’s top nuclear physicist and a car bomb, and Israel’s notorious Mossad agency is the primary suspect behind the assassination.
Personally, I cannot blame the Western world for its paranoia, seeing as Iran has not only failed to quell our worries but laughed in our faces in the meantime. Iran wants to rise up as a powerful nation diplomatically and militarily, but frankly, they still run a theocracy.
I cannot bring myself to trust any government that has yet to outgrow this condition. If you ask me, a nation that politically recognizes a religion as rule shrugs off the freedom of its people, let alone makes itself much more susceptible to unwarranted violence and antagonism.
“If we wanted to manufacture a bomb, we would announce it,” Ahmadinejad not-so-reassuringly stated in February 2010 while proudly declaring Iran a nuclear state. I strongly advise we don’t take his word for it.
While the international community’s efforts may seem futile or unfounded, I find it clear Iran cannot be trusted.
Clayton Crockett is a 19-year-old international studies and mass communication freshman from Lafayette. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_ccrockett.
 
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Contact Clayton Crockett at [email protected]