Iran's Nuclear Program

Re: Nuclear Program of Iran


Iran’s nuclear program was lunched in 1957 with the help of the United States as part of the “Atoms for Peace” program, however, due to the Iranian revolution in 1979, most of the international nuclear cooperation with Iran was cut off. Since, that, Iran has continued its program despite the lack of cooperation by most countries. Iran and the western countrieshave had their disputes about the nuclear program and the possible development of nuclear weapons.
Iran is party of the treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, which states that only the five permanent members of the Security Council (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States) are allowed to possess nuclear weapons.
Since 2006, The UN Security council has passedseven resolutions on Iran, the first one demanded Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment activities. Iran, being a sovereign state and proving that no IGO has any authority over it, refused to suspend its activities, this led to the pass of the second resolution that consisted on imposing sanctions and cutting off nuclear cooperation. The next three resolutions consisted on the extension of thesanctions. The sixth resolution, passed in 2010, brought new measures including the ban of Iran in any activity related to ballistic missiles, an expanded arms embargo and warnings to UN member states to be vigilant about a range of Iranian activities. European Union foreign ministers agreed on January 23 to ban all Iranian oil imports and to freeze the assets of Iran’s central bank. US PresidentBarack Obama ordered a block on property and interests in property belonging to the Iranian government, its central bank and all Iranian financial institutions on February 6. The measures come on top of four rounds of United Nations sanctions against the country of 75 million people. After that, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said that their nation “will never ever yield to pressure fromoutside”.
The fear of Iran having control of nuclear weapons led to Israel to look for its survival saying that taking military action rather than a diplomatic solution is more likely to occur. On November 2011, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu considered to attack Iran and destroy their nuclear plants if they didn’t suspend their nuclear program. This wouldn’t be the first time Israelattacks perceived nuclear threats in the Middle East, as in 1981, Israeli warplanes bombed an unfinished nuclear reactor in Iraq. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says to see no threat in Israel and that they are prepared to strike back if Israel attacks.
Israel has pushed members of the UN, especially the United States to assist them in taking military action to damage Iran’s program. TheUnited States refused to take military action, but their position is that they would work to prevent Iran from having nuclear weapons. US President Barack Obama said on September 2012 that “a nuclear-armed Iran is not a challenge that can be contained”. After Obama’s speech, President Netanyahu said that Iran should be stopped before spring or summer of 2013 or else their ability to make an atomicweapon will be irreversible.
There was a terrorist attack on February 13 against Israeli embassy staff in New Dehli, Israel’s Prime Minister blamed Iran for this acts. Iran has denied this.
Israel is also widely believed to have nuclear weapons, however, their nuclear program is not as developed as Iran’s. As Israel didn’t sign the Non Proliferation Treaty, they are somehow “allowed” topossess nuclear weapons. Iran also asked UN Members to stop Israel’s Nuclear program, saying that they already have crossed the “security red line” that Netanyahu said Iran’s about to cross.
This debate is still recent. There isn’t any kind of solid proof that says that Iran is indeed working on weapons of mass destruction. However, the pressure of many UN Members for Iran to suspend its program is...