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Iran’s nuclear posturing has inspired some of its neighbors to pursue their own nuclear programs. Some experts say such programs could provide cover for the development of nuclear weapons in the region. Others aren’t so sure. The World’s Aaron Schachter has the story.
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MARCO WERMAN: I’m Marco Werman and this is The World. When Iran’s president Mahmood Ahmedinejad spoke before the UN General Assembly last night, he did not mention Iran’s nuclear program. Still, it’s been a key topic of conversation at the UN all this week. The US and its allies have given Iran an October 1st deadline to respond to demands to halt its nuclear pursuits. Iran maintains its program is for producing energy—not weapons. But that hasn’t stopped other countries in the Middle East from pursuing their own nuclear ambitions. The world’s Aaron Schachter reports from Beirut.
AARON SCHACHTER: The list of Middle Eastern countries looking for nukes might give you pause: Yemen, Syria, Sudan. In the past few years these countries have publicly expressed interest in building nuclear reactors. Some have actually signed contracts with western firms. All say they’re pursuing only nuclear power.
GARY MILHOLLIN: In no case, I think, does it make sense for a country in the Middle East that does not have a reactor now to get one.
SCHACHTER: Gary Milhollin heads the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control based in Washington. For him, what’s going on in the Middle East is clear; everyone’s afraid in one way or another of a nuclear Iran.
MILHOLLIN: Generally speaking, you can divide the countries in the Middle East into two groups: one group has oil and doesn’t need a reactor; and the other group doesn’t have oil and therefore cannot afford to pay for a reactor. And unfortunately if you look at history, you see that many countries have tried to hide a nuclear weapon program under the guise of a civilian power program.
SCHACHTER: Milhollin puts Iran in that group. He says unless Iran is stopped soon, nuclear proliferation in the Middle East will be impossible to contain. But Kristian Alexander, a Political Scientist at Abu Dhabi’s Zayed University, says the so-called “nuclear arms race” in the Middle East is more puffery than fact. He says outside of Iran, no one’s actually building anything.
KRISTIAN ALEXANDER: I really think it’s more for domestic consumption, to claim a status that you’re somewhat of a powerhouse in the region. But there’s a lot of talk and not a lot of action.
SCHACHTER: But From Iran, there’s talk and action. Its president is issuing hateful rhetoric and the country is developing nuclear power, possibly nuclear weapons. Even so, Alexander doesn’t think Iran would actually use The Bomb, against Israel or anyone else. Ronen Bergman agrees. He’s an Israeli journalist and author of The Secret War with Iran. He says Iran wants nuclear weapons for bargaining power. That worries Israel and Sunni Arab countries, which wouldn’t want to kowtow to a nuclear-armed Shiite country and its proxies. Bergman says this has already created some unlikely alliances.
RONEN BERGMAN: There has been an ongoing intimate connection between Israeli and Arab intelligence services trying to fight the support of the Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, Hamas and other militant groups and the attempts to acquire nuclear Armageddon weapons. We are talking about Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Algeria and Morocco.
SCHACHTER: Lawrence Rubin, with the Dubai Initiative at Harvard’s Kennedy School, says he doesn’t know whether Iran is trying to acquire nuclear weapons or not. But he thinks all sides of the debate need to stop and take a breath. Rubin says there’s nothing inherently wrong with Iran or other countries pursuing nuclear technology, as long as the pursuit’s transparent.
LAWRENCE RUBIN: If they sign various international agreements regarding nuclear technology, then they’re entitled to the sharing of technology. And these are agreements that the international community, and especially the United States supports. And these are obviously some of the agreements the United States and the international community have been trying to work out with Iran for a long time.
SCHACHTER: But Rubin concedes even when everything’s on the up and up, you never know when a civilian nuclear program will lead to building a weapon. For The World, I’m Aaron Schachter in Beirut.
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