Nuclear Capability and National Security

Iranian blogger, Farah Karimi, Roozonline:

Last week, the Heinrich Boll Foundation of Germany and Tagos Zeitung newspaper jointly held a seminar in Berlin on the situation in Iran after the recent presidential elections. Iranian scholars from around the world also participated in the discussions. READ MORE

While there were many different views on Iran’s nuclear posture and other issues pertinent to Iran, some of the national security views on Iran were disturbing. In one view that was even advocated by some progressive thinkers it was proposed that regardless of who governs Iran, nuclear weapons are necessary for Iran’s national security. Their argument is that when others in the region have it why not us.

This is a militaristic approach to national security. Regardless of whether “support for nuclear weapons” has a place in intellectual thinking – which at the international level unilaterally supports nuclear disarmament – it appears that even from a practical perspective there is a fundamental flaw in securing Iran’s national interest through nuclear weapons.

The first question in this regard is whether the specific costs of moving towards the production of nuclear weapons justify such a program.

The answer to this question is a no.

It would be very surprising if the world community agreed to Iran’s production of nuclear weapons. So, Iran’s insistence subjects the country to the most serious opposition from the world community, which would bring a direct and serious danger to its security. In the final analysis, such a challenge would not allow Iran to produce these weapons.

Furthermore, the mere idea and policy of going nuclear in Iran even without an actual implementation plan and program, even if produces absolutely nothing “nuclear”, would create an uncontrollable arms race among the regional states that the mere military build up would further reduce rather than enhance Iran’s national security.

Aside all that, from a legal perspective Iran remains a member of the Non Proliferation Treaty. The ultimate goal of this regime is to prevent new states from joining the nuclear club and at the same time move towards global nuclear disarmament. In this context, during the last many years, even the United and the former Soviet Union dismantled a large number of their nuclear arsenals. A process that is expected to continue in the future. The main problem with countries such as India, Pakistan and Israel is that these nuclear states have not joined the NPT. The only way to control and finally reverse their nuclear weapons is to strengthen the NPT club. So any weakening of the NPT negates the desired goal of reducing or eliminating such weapons in these states.

On the issue of strengthening Iran’s national security, the focus should be on improving the government-people bond through democracy, relaxation of tensions with the world community and ending the costly ideological posture in international relations. Otherwise, nuclear weapons will never enhance Iran’s national security, just as they never did the territorial integrity of the mightiest nuclear power, the former Soviet Union. Support for a nuclear Iran by intellectuals and thinkers only means falling into the trap of the dreamers of those rulers who want such weapons not for the country’s national security, but for their own security.