Iran and Access to Nuclear Weapons

With sources dating back to the late 1960s, North Korea’s nuclear weapons program has expanded to be a useful instrument of the government’s security. Its principal motivations for developing the nuclear weapons are as follows: to block foreign pressure, create an international impact and preserve the terms and conditions of the DPRK (ruling party of North Korea). In contrast, Iran 's motivations to develop strategic weapons appear to be more complex than that of North Korea. Iran 's efforts to develop nuclear, chemical and

enemies to scare them into not continuing the battles that they are taking place in. They rhetorically strategized to scare the enemies into thinking that they were not bluffing and would use the weapons if the task presented itself. Bush even said that even if matters did go worse that he still most likely would not have used the nuclear weapons that he possessed. Also the statement made that if a president looks at using nuclear weapons lightly that it should be an embarrassment to them shows that even when they threaten using these weapons they are most likely bluffing. It appears that as time goes by people do not want nuclear weapons around especially our president. He also sees the huge damage that it can cause and is also trying to make it impossible for Iran to obtain these weapons as he is also working on trying to remove our nuclear weapons from Europe and other parts to not have the option of obtaining nuclear weapons in the future. This matter is super important for Americans to know about because nuclear weapons can be very catastrophic if they are used, especially by an enemy to the United States. The questions that need to be asked are is there ever going to be an end to nuclear weapons? Will we ever find the peace and security that Bush talks about? Will there

Evidence: This is why we should worry about Iran’s missiles. Just last fall Washington and European capital been involved in a long time bout with Iran nuclear diplomacy. In Washington, they hope that there hopes will run high and the effort will help the threat posed by Tehran’s atomic ambitions. The diplomatic deal is not only to limit Iran’s capability to build nuclear weapons but to also deliver to them. United states thinks that Iran is not really a threat to us but according to U.S. intelligence assessments, Iran already have the most powerful missile in the Middle East. They also have ballistic missiles that can be a

In his paper about Iran’s nuclear program, Barry R. Posen emphasized that Iran’s nuclear program may result on regional and global instability. On regional level, neighboring countries of Iran will feel threatened with Iran’s nuclear power. This situation may lead them to follow Iran’s step in developing nuclear weapons even though they do not have the capability to ensure the security of their nuclear sites. Clearly, nuclear weapons proliferation will put the Middle East in escalating dangerous situation. On global level, the U.S. and its allies are concerned that the situation in the Middle East may harm their national interests. The Middle East is still a prominent producer of oil which is the main energy resource for industrial

The Iranian nuclear deal and sanctions is a very convoluted and confusing dilemma. Thomas Friedman a foreign affairs, globalization and technology correspondent for The New York Times, wrote the article titled, “Look Before Leaping” in which he writes about the basic ins and outs of the Iranian nuclear deal. He discusses the most probable possibilities of the deal going into depth about the likelihood that Iran is a potential economic and social ally in the sense that “Iran is a real country and civilization, with competitive (yet restricted) elections, educated women and a powerful military. Patching up the US-Iran relationship could enable America to better manage and balance the Sunni Taliban in Afghanistan, and counterbalance the Sunni jihadists, like those in the Islamic State, or ISIS, now controlling chunks of Iraq and Syria” (Friedman). He also goes into the possibility that Iran could, once the nuclear sanctions are lifted, attack Israel and lead not only the region, but also the globe into absolute and complete disarray. The complexities of this issue stem all the way back to 1979, when Iran revolted against its Shah and transitioned to “its ayatollahs and Revolutionary Guard Corps — to gradually move Iran from being a revolutionary state to a normal one” (Friedman). For far too long Iran has been involved in

“Just the fact of having nuclear weapons, and letting the rest of the world know, provides a great amount of security” (HR) With war most countries want to be the strongest so that the war can be won. When the people of a country are reassured that their military has nuclear weapons it creates a sense of security that does not go unnoticed. For Example President Barack Obama called for the United States to lead international efforts toward a world free of nuclear weapons. (U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policy) “The Task Force report, titled U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policy, focuses on near-term policies to reduce nuclear weapons to the lowest possible level consistent with maintaining a credible deterrent.” The United States started to try to ease people’s minds by creating guides to surviving a nuclear attack, should it ever occur. There were even cartoons created to reassure children about this fear, such as Duck and Cover

With a total of 16,300 nukes (Ploughshare 2014: web) there has been a growing consensus regarding the need for substantial nuclear arms reduction. (Council on Foreign Relations 2013: web) Even if according to the NPT pillars the states have to work towards disarmament, it is not a feasible option. Supposing all five states let go of their weapons, it would just strengthen the black market. Just as drugs are illegally trafficked, nuclear weapons would also be secretly proliferated. Furthermore, if a country like Japan has the technological capability to attain access to nuclear weapons, so can terrorist groups. For instance, if Hezbollah got their hands on nuclear weaponry, the US would be in a position of vulnerability, susceptible to blackmails such as those already from North Korea. Not to mention that if, in a parallel world, the US reduced its arsenal to 500 or less, Hezbollah or any other terrorist organization would not hesitate to threat the country, let alone attack. In that case scenario, deterrence wouldn’t work, not even if dealing with a state. However, if the US were to keep its arsenal, the fear of retaliation would

According to the official White House website, Iran currently has two means to produce a nuclear weapon, which are highly enriched uranium (HEU) and plutonium. Assuming there are no other secret facilities, uranium is currently produced at Natanz and FFEP, while plutonium is produced at Arak. The website also mentions that Iran currently possesses enough HEU to produce eight nuclear bombs, and that it possesses 20,000 centrifuges between the previously mentioned Natanz and FFEP sites. The deal requires Iran to reduce its HEU levels by 98% and maintain the levels at or below the 3.67% while reducing the number of centrifuges to 6,104 for at least the next 10 years. Additionally, the deal addresses concerns about future secret facilities, specifying that Iran is subject to exceptionally vigorous monitoring, verification, and inspection measures as well as allowing the IAEA access to any suspected nuclear

This could lead to Iran potentially sharing its nuclear technology with extremist groups who hate the United States and other Western nations. While Iranian missiles can not yet reach America, Iran having a nuclear weapons capability can potentially directly threaten the United States and its inhabitants. " Iran has publicly stated it may launch a space launch vehicle by 2015 that could be capable of intercontinental ballistic missile ranges if configured as a ballistic missile.”(The Department of Defence, 2014). On top of this threat many officials are also concerned about the possibility of a nuclear weapon arriving in a cargo container or being launched from a boats at a major US port. A federally mandated commission to study electromagnetic pulse attacks has stated “vast damage that could be brought by a single missile with a nuclear warhead if launched from a ship off the US coast and detonated a couple of hundred miles in the air above America.” (Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic (EMP) Attack, 2004). Now to stray from the threats facing the United States there are the issues that nuclear-armed Iran poses to America 's closest allies in the Middle East. First, our largest ally in the region, being Israel, is most at risk because of Iranian hatred for them and the belief that “Israel should be wiped of the map” - Former President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. (Washington Post, 2011). Than there are the

The military dimensions of dealing with Iran would be forever changed if Iran were to achieve a nuclear weapons capability. The ability to deal with Iran has not significantly changed since the Tanker Wars in the 1980’s. Iran has slowly increased their technology but has failed to produce any legitimate indigenous naval or air assets that would pose a significant threat to United States Naval vessels or the United States’ superior air platforms. Iran achieving a nuclear weapons capability would not likely significantly impact the United States immediately, at least not in the continental United States, because of Iran’s lack of missile systems that a long range capability, but it would

Iran may not be a direct threat. However, they are a threat to one of our longest standing allies. The protesting towards the Islamic government in Iran due to the excessive spending to support Syria and organizations such as, Hezbollah. The EU plus the additional countries included in the Iran deal are hopeful that President Trump will sign to extend the deal. In the event this does not occur, we could be looking at war against Israel and Iran opening their nuclear program. Our government responsibilities from the federal level to local is to protect and provide.

In order to create a nuclear bomb one must have either large amounts of uranium or plutonium. There are four ways in which a nation could possibly acquire these materials needed, these paths have been terminated to Iran. The first way is that Iran has enough highly enriched uranium to produce 8-10 bombs. Because of the agreement Iran must get rid of 98% of their stockpile of the uranium. This reduces their quantity of uranium far below what is needed to make nuclear weapons.

Still, Iran continuously denies that its nuclear objectives are to construct atomic weapons, but a large majority of the international community remains skeptical to the legitimacy of this claim due to the secrecy of Iran’s productions and their refusal to cooperate with the IAEA on several notable occasions. However, in defense over the concerns pertaining to the secrecy of Iran’s program, Iran’s former ambassador to the United Nations, Mohammed Javad Zarif, claims Western tension and dwindling support for Iran’s early nuclear energy programs forced Tehran with no choice but to continue their nuclear activities in a discreet matter. Zarif wrote in Colombia University’s Journal of International Affairs, “To avoid the

The United States have an agreement that they would never use or threaten to use nuclear weapons on any non-nuclear states or countries. The only logical targets for the U.S. to use nuclear weapons against

Dating back to the 1950s, Iran was interested in having its nuclear program (NTI, September 2015). Iran received assistance from the United States through the US “Atoms for Peace” program. This is a program announced by the United States at the UN in 1953 to share nuclear materials with other countries and states for peaceful purposes. Although Iran ratified the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Treaty (NPT) in 1970, the Shah might already have ambitions for developing nuclear weapons (NTI, September 2015).