Nuclear row

The nuclear row between Iran and the West is worsening, threatening stability in the Middle East. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday said Iran will neither halt its uranium enrichment nor negotiate over its nuclear rights but is ready to sit and talk with the world powers. Ahmadinejad´s statement is in response to a warning issued by the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The IAEA has warned Iran against "stalemate" over its nuclear program. Providing a new twist to the issue, France on Tuesday accused the IAEA of concealing the truth about Iran´s nuclear program.



Nuclear proliferation is a threat to world peace and prosperity and it should be halted immediately but such restrictions cannot be selective, nor can there be two different rules for two different countries. It is here that the West is making a mistake, and thus losing its moral authority to check nuclear proliferation. The United States, which has been putting sustained pressure on Iran to stop its nuclear enrichment program, should be the last country to be doing so. The US Senate rejected the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) when the Clinton Administration presented it for ratification. US clout against proliferation eroded further after it attacked Iraq on grounds of the latter possessing Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) but failed to come up with any evidence after over-running that country.



The US and the nuclear West argue that their nuclear weapons guarantee world peace, while any such weapons possessed by "rogue" states would threaten that peace. True, developed countries and mature democracies are less likely to resort to WMD compared to unstable countries like Pakistan or Iran, but to say that developed countries never use them runs against historical fact: Didn´t the US drop A-bombs on Japan during World War II?



The West also maintains double standards while dealing with a particular country before and after it attains nuclear status. Take India, for instance. The West was leaning heavily on India to sign the CTBT before it carried out nuclear tests in 1998. Of course, there were sanctions against India in the immediate aftermath of Pokhran II, but those sanctions gradually waned and today India hobnobs with the West as a privileged member of the nuclear club. India´s current stature on the world stage is partly a result of Pokhran. Given such a record, it´s no wonder that more nations aspire and do everything it takes to join that club. The members of the nuclear club should first express an unambiguous commitment to gradually cut their nuclear arsenals and expound a vision of a nuclear weapons-free world. Unless they do so, the race will continue and more countries will join the nuclear club.

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