U.S. policy toward Iran's Nuclear Weapons Program - Essay Example

?U.S. Policy towards Iran’s Nuclear Weapons Program Proliferation of ballistic missiles and weapons continues to pose a major threat to US interests and the safety of the world in general. Countries like North Korea and Iran have evolved into major short and medium-range ballistic missile proliferators. The U.S. government's policy towards such emerging nuclear powers has always been shaded unilateral. Though there is consequent support for the US activities from countries like European Union, Japan and Australia, many countries like Russia, India and China refuse to lend enough support to the US measures as they are highly dependent on the Korean technology and Iranian oil for their growth. There is no defined way of getting Iran to drop its nuclear program. But a combination of various technologies can be used to corner the country into doing so. The US government should follow both the carrot and stick approach to persuade Iran to comply by its sanctions. It should make sure its policies are bilateral and multilateral to gain support from the other countries. Here is a threefold plan to achieve the same. 1. The third world countries should be convinced regarding the threat of the increased arms proliferation and the advantages the current US sanctions might bring them to gain their support. The Iranian neighbours should be lured in to give more support to the US policies. 2. The Iranian public should be made aware of the losses they incur due to the sanctions. They can play a key role in making their government drop such activities for the general economic growth of the country. 3. The US government should stop imposing more strict sanctions on the Iranian oil market. It should bargain technological help in core areas in exchange of a cease on the nuclear program. Current Status Iran suffers from various rounds of US sanctions currently. The sanctions have banned the supply of heavy weaponry to Iran by any other country. It has prevented the exports of Iranian arms to other countries and frozen the assets of around 39 individuals and 141 companies whom it think is responsible for strengthening the nuclear power in Iran. The latest sanctions proposed by the US on prohibit all foreign financial institutions to have business contacts with Iran's Central Bank. Under requests from the American government the European Union and South Korea have also agreed not to purchase oil from Iran which comes as a heavy blow to Iranian economy. These sanctions have been imposed upon Iran because they have breached to comply with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) regulations as alerted by the UN's watchdog (Not Quite too Late, 2012). Iran’s Nuclear Power The US intelligence reports states that Iran purchases advanced technology from Russia and the products necessary to materialize the technology from China. There is an assumption that Iran will develop and test an IRBM or intermediate-range ballistic missile and an ICBM with the support of these countries by 2015. The reports from the CIA state that Iran has close tie ups with North Korea and it is planning to create TD-2 type ICBM and test it within 2015 (Iranian Ballistic Missile WMD Threat to the US, 2000). They also fear a huge range of chemical and biological weapons are stocked by the Iranian government which might be used directly against the US or simply be sold to groups or countries which target the US as their primary enemy. Is it an Imaginary Fear? The US government should consider how far the previous sanctions have prevented Iran from producing the nuclear weapons. It is a proven fact that the sanctions which have been passed on the country for the past 30 years have given very little result. But looking into Iran's ballistic missile history, there is no solid proof that they are capable of developing long-range ballistic missiles or huge nuclear weapons. They created a Shahab-4 which claimed to act as a ballistic missile but turned out to be just an SLV with minimum military applications. Tehran has been boasting about its plan to create Shahab-5 with all core facilities but, have not mentioned any time frame so far. The relationship of Russia with the United States and its economic power is much different from the time of cold war. Russia might have sold the technology to Iran before many decades. But, it is no position to do the same now. The technology Iran possesses is estimated to 50 years older than the modern Europe and American nuclear technology. There is a general talk that years of strict sanctions against the country had rendered it incapable of producing even an ice box let alone ballistic missiles. There is no solid proof for the capability of Iran producing such missiles and weapons so far considering the countries overall economic technological sate. The Stick Approach 1. Convincing the Iranian Neighbours and other Third World Countries In 2013, Baghdad a renowned Iraqi city was crowned the capital of Arab Culture (Guzansky, 2013). Saudi Arabia, UAE, Turkey and other Middle East countries are always on the lookout for new opportunities of trade. A ban on Iran's oil means an opportunity for them to increase their profit as their main source of income is also oil. Russia, China, India and many other countries which are close to Iran feel the CIA reports overestimate the capability of the country. They are not ready to comply with the sanctions because they depend on the Iran oil imports heavily for their countries growth. It is not wise to differ with them as their support is important for the US in many other issues. The question whether the US fights a shadow in Iran’s case is long prevailing among many Americans. Both the Republicans and Democrats have had heated debate regarding the issue. Their main concern is that, if their imaginary fear comes true, it would lead to a catastrophe in the Middle East. If Iran really possesses such highly dangerous missiles, it has high vulnerability of losing it to Israel or other terrorist organizations who will pose a major threat to world peace. So, they feel it is better to take precautionary steps now than suffer later as in the case of Afghanistan. They should make the other countries understand the validity of their fear by showing them strong proof instead of simply pressing them to sign sanctions against Iran (Samore, 2013). 2. Creating Awareness among the General Public The sanctions have already affected the economy of Iran in numerous ways. The Iranian crude oil exports took a great hit even before the sanctions came into practice. The crude oil barrels sale dropped from 2.5 million barrels to 1.5 million barrels a day after the sanctions costing them a loss of $32 billion in a year. The oil production reduced drastically to its lowest level since 1988. By October, the Iran Rial lost nearly 80% of its value falling to record lows against the dollar. The government said it had stacked goods and money worth $ 150 billion to cushion the impact (Q&A: Iran Sanctions, 2012). The price of the food products and basic commodities increased by many folds causing wide spread agitations among the public. The US should concentrate on creating more awareness among the public regarding the position of their country which will eventually result in a better leadership which will comply with global rules. The Carrot Approach 3. Extending technical help in exchange of nuclear disarmament The US government can extend technical help to some of the core issues in the country. For example, water scarcity and decline of water quality is a major issue in Iran. Since 90% of the available water is used for agriculture to ensure there is self-sufficient food production, the public has to pay high prices for drinking water. Water quality tests in the area show 25 out of 35 rivers are very heavily polluted. Examining their ground water level, ten amongst the available 13 ground water tables show high pollution level (Islamic Republic of Iran Energy-Environment Review Policy Note, 2004). The US government can provide the country with efficient technology to clean their water, recycle the water used in industry and agriculture and improve ground water levels efficiently. Water scarcity is a major problem faced by Iran and it will heed to any help in the issue from developed countries which are experts in water management. Iran can be forced to sign a Libya-style disarmament in return for the help which will enable them to dismantle their existing nuclear materials and the refrain from indulging in similar activities in future. Is Iran the only country to be affected? The European Union purchases nearly 20% of Iran's total oil production. Refraining from purchasing Iran’s oil will not only affect Iran's economy but the European Union's as well. Other countries which have supported the US sanctions like South Korea, Japan and Australia will also face the same issues. Libya's oil is the only alternative for these countries. Saudi Arabia and the UAE looking for a chance to dominate Iran will comply to pump in more oil from their sites. But, they will definitely raise the price of the crude oil in the world market. These countries already suffer from severe pollution and very high heat. Drilling more in the Middle East ignoring Iran’s large oil resources will increase the global warming considerably which will create drastic effects on the earth. Hence, the US government should concentrate on using the carrots more than the sticks in this issue. Conclusion The US policies regarding Iran should be made multilateral and the sanctions should be implemented with support from the other world countries. The US should find solid proof regarding its nuclear deals before taking any more harsh resolutions against the country. If such a proof is found, the US should create general public awareness about the dangers of ballistic proliferation and turn Iranian neighbours the world countries and its own people against them for better results. References 1. Guzansky, Yoel. "How Iraq's Future May be Shaped by its Neighbours". March 2013. 30 April 2013. 2. "Iranian Ballistic Missile, WMD Threat to the US". 21st September 2000. 30 April 2013. 3. "Islamic Republic of Iran Energy-Environment Review Policy Note". 21st May 2004. 30 April 2013. 4. "Not Quite too Late" . Economist.com. 21st January 2012. 30 April 2013. 5. "Q & A: Iran Sanctions". BB.co.uk. 16 October 2012. 30 April 2013. 6. Samore, Gary. "Meeting Iran's Nuclear Challenge". wmdcommission.org. 30 April 2013. Read More