American hypocrisy Vs Iranian deceit

The long-standing nuclear debate — American Nuclear Hypocrisy Vs Iranian Nuclear Deceit — was renewed with much vigour last month. Americans and Western nations claimed that their spies had uncovered a nuclear armament site by the side of a cave near the City of Qom far removed from Tehran while the Iranian authorities dismissed this claim saying that they had declared this site to the watchdog of the UN on nuclear proliferation, IAEA much before the time required by UN nuclear proliferation regulations and also before the announcement of the so called discovery by Western spies.

 Credibility

UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon who is in the thick of this nuclear imbroglio held that the date of the declaration to the IAEA does cast doubts about  transparency of Iran about this issue. Western nations suspect the Qom site  is to be used for enrichment of uranium that could be used for the manufacture of nuclear weapons.  Why wait till the construction is almost over, why were the blue prints not submitted to the IAEA before it was constructed? Ban had queried.

However, last week significant progress was made over the issue when six nations — America, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany — sat down for talks with Iran, for one day, over the issue. The significance was that the talks were after a seven year stand off between Iran and America. The talks resulted in Iran agreeing to open the Qom site to inspectors of the IAEA.

The second round of negotiations are scheduled within a month some reports said when Iran would be pressed to accept a nuclear freeze and unfettered inspections of its nuclear sites by the IAEA. Reports said that America and other European nations were hoping for a new gesture from Tehran but were not naïve enough to expect smooth sailing.

 History

The history of Iran’s nuclear programme has its beginnings in the 1950s after the CIA initiated throwing out of the then left leaning Prime Minister Mosaqdeq and installed the Shah Riza Pahlavi. The Americans introduced the Atoms for Peace programme and established a nuclear development centre in Tehran. The Shah who held the view that the Middle East would run out its oil reserves in the near future advocated production of nuclear energy. He proposed constructing 23 nuclear plants by the year 2000 with American assistance generating 23,000 MW of electricity. But that was not to be when he was thrown out by the Iranian Revolution.

After 1979, the new regime did not pursue a nuclear programme with much vigour but in 2002 a spokesman for the Iranian dissident group, Alireza Jafarzadeh blew Iran’s nuclear lid off by revealing the existence of unknown nuclear facilities at Nantanz and Arak. From then on the allegations about Iran having a nuclear programme to develop nuclear weapons through enrichment of uranium has been a very contentious issue between Iran and the West. Revelations

After revelations about Nantanz and Arak, the IAEA moved in to inspect Iranian nuclear sites and Iranian leaders reluctantly yielded to such inspections. Iran has consistently maintained that its nuclear programmes are for generation of nuclear power and not for armaments. It maintains that it has a sovereign right to develop nuclear power and is abiding by the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT) of which it is a signatory.

The attempts to generate nuclear power have not resulted in violation of the provisions of the NPT it maintains. Nor has the IAEA succeeded in finding any evidence of Iran attempting to produce nuclear weapons, Iranian leaders stress.  

The IAEA’s consistent complaint has been over the failure of Iran to declare sensitive enrichment and reprocessing activities to them. They also point to Iran’s non-compliance with NPT safeguard agreements. Under these circumstances the UN Security Council has demanded suspension of the nuclear enrichment programme and following refusal by Iran has imposed some economic sanctions.

Provocateur

Iranian President, Ahmadinejad with his acerbic rhetoric has dismissed allegations made by America and its allies as well as UN officials as being biased. Only last week he had said that Ban Ki Moon was only parroting the Americans on this issue of the alleged uranium enriching facility at Qom. His allegations of American nuclear hypocrisy rings true particularly in the instance where India is concerned.

In 1973 when India exploded its first nuclear device in the Rajasthan desert, America and its Western allies brought down on India a crippling heap of sanctions on materials regarding production of nuclear energy and weapons. Yet, India persisted with its nuclear programme, insisting that it was only the explosion of a ‘peaceful nuclear device’. The entire nuclear non proliferation regime of America was geared towards preventing India acquiring a nuclear device.

Pakistan too was severely admonished for its nuclear programme and had sanctions imposed on it too but the focus was on India. Both countries had persisted in refusing to sign the NPT as well as Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT)

But geopolitics changed rapidly from the 1970s to the 1990s, and when India exploded five nuclear bombs followed by Pakistan with a similar number, there was not much concern expressed by this staunch defender of nuclear non proliferation. Now India is being strongly backed by the United States in its so called civilian nuclear generation programme. Ahmadinejad must be hoping to develop his own nuclear bomb and wait for the day when America needs Iranian assistance.

Nonetheless the Iranian leader is playing with fire threatening to wipe Israel off the map and denying the holocaust in which a countless number of Jews were killed. Israel too is believed to possess nuclear weapons but their freedom to use them is restrained by America and other allies on whom Israel depends for its existence unlike the buccaneering Ahmadinejad who with his mullahs doesn’t give a damn to any other.

An Iranian bomb at this time in the volatile Middle East could have incalculable results. The words of Albert Einstein, one of those who contributed to the production of the pioneering atomic weapons must be kept in mind: I don’t know with what weapons the Third World War would be fought with but the fourth would be fought with sticks and stones.