Taming Iran

The US and its close western friends are up in arms over the second uranium-enriching facility of Iran. Iran had disclosed it voluntarily to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) last week. It is for this reason that an Iranian official scoffed at the American hullabaloo saying that his country’s disclosure showed that there was nothing secret about it.

The western block and especially America’s apathy to Iran is well known and on the nuclear issue both have been at loggerheads, so this is a predictable American response and Iranian counterclaim. The fact that French president Nicholas Sarkozy and British prime minister Gordon Brown have joined president Obama is also much as expected. But this should be kept aside while assessing the situation.

Iran may claim it voluntarily stepped up and gave information, but its nuclear programme is not transparent enough and also raises worries. The countries most concerned are its neighbours. The Arabs do not very much like the idea of Iran as a nuclear weapon state. It creates an imbalance of power in the region. As a matter of fact, Iran’s nuclear programme should be discussed openly in the Arab world too. By protesting too loudly, the Americans and Europeans make it difficult for Arabs to speak out because the clash is seen as between the European west and the Middle East as a block.

Iran’s nuclear bomb is clearly targeted at Israel besides the fact that it gives Iran a currency of power in the neighbourhood. Iran is among many countries who want to have their own bomb because they feel it gives them strength, credibility and the ability to withstand international pressure. The nuclear weapon states are seen as hypocritical since they already have large stockpiles. Tehran has done little to alleviate fears about its intentions and casually tossed off statements about annihilating Israel don’t inspire confidence.

India too will not want a nuclear power so close in the vicinity. Iran will also have to come clean on its sources of nuclear know-how. There is reason to suspect that Iran accesses its nuclear technology surreptitiously from Pakistan, North Korea and even China. India’s stand that as a signatory to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT), Iran is bound by obligation makes much sense. It is time for Iran to be more transparent to alleviate the world’s — and not merely the West’s — concerns.