Nuclear: The American Veto

Washington and Tehran have upped the ante. The standoff between Iran and the United States is taking on dangerous proportions, which will no longer affect only those two countries. With its position as the superpower of the world, the U.S. is making use of all of its means to coerce Iran to abandon their nuclear program. It’s all there: Washington forbids those countries that have not received its carte blanche the right to acquire any knowledge of a strategic area: the atom. Suddenly, the question becomes larger than just Iran; it becomes an issue of nations’ rights to have their own science and technology policies. So, Israel has the right to do nuclear research, not to adhere to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and to possess nuclear warheads without declaring them so as not to have them inspected or monitored by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Not Iran! That was the case for Iraq, too, after it was accused (falsely) of possessing weapons of mass destruction (WMD). It emerged after the invasion and destruction of Iraq that none of it was true and that the country did not have what it was accused of having. However, the objective underlying the charge was achieved: Iraq was neutralized.

In 1981, Israel had (already) destroyed the Tammuz nuclear plant near Baghdad, to the general approval of the West. Today, it is Iran that is in the crosshairs of the United States and of Israel — the country that the United States placed above international law. Tomorrow, it will probably be Algeria for no other reason than that Algeria has had the inclination to seek out nuclear expertise on its own thanks to its own scientific research. Have they forgotten the campaign against Algeria during the 1990s, in the midst of the Gulf War? Besides, as soon as any Arab nation decides to stand on its own, it becomes suspect to those who have the knowledge. It seems that the atom and its mastery will be forbidden territory for those who have not been “authorized” by Washington and Israel. They sell us nuclear plants but ban us from seeking out the natural complement: nuclear knowledge. Thus, Iran doesn’t have the right to acquire nuclear knowledge.

It’s important to point this out in order to understand the debate. In reality, it’s not so much the existence of nuclear plants in Iran that is upsetting but rather the thought that Iran might master the process of transforming uranium. That changes everything. Furthermore, it has been suggested that Iran should transfer its uranium to an “authorized” country (Russia, for example) in order to enrich it and then to France (???) to transform it. So it’s not the improbable Iranian atomic bomb that is so worrisome but rather the fact that Iran, a non-authorized country (to reiterate), might be able to single-handedly control the atomic conversion process.

In addition, Iran has been subject to severe sanctions for years in order to induce the country to repent. But since Tehran has not folded, they are considering moving on to another stage — even more of a deterrent, according to its authors: an oil embargo. This oil embargo would ban Iran from exporting its oil in order to suffocate the country both economically and financially. Faced with this new escalation of sanctions, Iran has threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz through which 40 percent of the Gulf’s oil passes. All is fair in war. But this does not seem obvious to those who have decided to dictate what others should or should not do. Washington has aggressed Iran for years. It’s normal, “sensible.” Iran is trying to defend itself through the only means available: Hormuz, to which it holds the key. Washington calls this “irrational behavior.” Energy is the key to all activity on our planet. Science is, essentially, a means to an end. The end is knowledge. It’s this knowledge that they want to forbid from those who aren’t part of the little circle of “authorized” nations who possess the know-how. Unacceptable!