LA Times: Iran Needs Nukes
Charles Johnson
Mon Aug 22, 2005 at 9:07 am PDT • Views: 182
Today’s LA Times gives column space to Fariborz Mokhtari, a professor at the Near East South Asia Center of the National Defense University in Washington, to tell America why Iran needs nuclear weapons. (Hat tip: Eg.)
Lost in the rhetoric is the truth that Iran needs a way to deter its perceived enemies. Its security concerns are real and legitimate. The country is surrounded by U.S. bases and troops. Instability in the Caucasus, Central Asia, Afghanistan and Iraq feeds its security apprehensions. If Pakistan’s government and its nuclear arsenal were to fall into the wrong hands, it would be menacing to Iran. And Iran’s Arab neighbors, with few exceptions, proved unreliable (and in some cases, hostile) when Saddam Hussein’s forces invaded the country, even remaining deafeningly silent as Iraq showered the Iranians with Scud missiles and chemical warheads.
Frankly, Iran cannot afford to develop only conventional deterrence against such threats, and it will not rely on imported armaments again. Which may explain why Iran’s rulers would desire an alternative deterrent: limited nuclear weapons coupled with domestically manufactured missiles.
Frank says: