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Essay on Iran And Nuclear Weapons
Iran was trying to establish a secret gas centrifuge uranium-enrichment program. An had approached German and Swiss firms to purchase balancing machines, as well as diagnostic and monitoring equipment-all dual-use items potentially valuable for laboratory-scale centrifuge development. In addition, Iranian agents were said to have contacted a British company to obtain samarium-cobalt magnetic equipment, potentially useful in the development of centrifuge top bearings.
Iran had tried for years to buy heavy water reactors to produce plutonium, is "devoting resources to enriching uranium to weapons grade" (Corsi, 2005) levels, and has scoured the states of the former Soviet Union for nuclear materials, technology, scientists, and technicians.
In 1997 Iran was actively developing nuclear weapons, although they indicated that the effort was proceeding slowly and that Iran would not have a bomb using Iranian-produced weapons grade material until 2005-2007. On January 16, 1998, officials of the UAE presented the United States with a list of 15 steps they were taking to prevent Iran from acquiring weapons of mass destruction and spoke out strongly on the need to oppose Tehran's sponsorship of terrorism.
Iran has never confirmed these charges and suspicions. Iran's Deputy President Ayatollah Mohajerani did state in October 1991, that Iran should work with other "Islamic states to create an Islamic bomb" (Cordesman, 2001). However, the Iranian government has normally denied that it is seeking nuclear weapons and has repeatedly made proposals to create a nuclear-free zone in the Middle East.
Iran has countered such charges by repeatedly denying that it has a nuclear weapons program. For example, President Rafsanjani was asked if Iran had a nuclear weapons program in an interview in the CBS program 60 Minutes in February 1997. He replied, "Definitely not. I hate this weapon" (Web 1).
Why is it so important for an oil-rich country like Iran to develop nuclear....
