Free «Iran or North Korea » Essay Sample
There has been a fierce debate as to whether the US should meet the Iran or North Korea leaders before they meet the preconditions set to them to scale down their nuclear ambitions. Several opinions have been voiced concerning. It would only be fair though to carefully grasp both sides of the arguments before making a conclusion. During his tenure in office, President Bush repeated the claims that Iran and North Korea’s nuclear ambitions had the potential of triggering World War III. In 2007, US undersecretary of State gave strong warnings that Iran could be preparing for a nuclear weapons capability.
In 2007 Steven Welsh, the FrontPage Magazine Managing Editor shed more revelation on the Iran and North Korea’s nuclear power. In his discussion, he revealed that these nuclear powers had been kept secret for nearly two decades by dissembling and deceiving the UN inspectors. The Economist magazine in the same period reported that even before election of president Mahmoud to power, Iran had been negotiating the nuclear power in bad faith. In late 2007 to early 2008, the European Union believed Iran continued to research on and enrich its nuclear power secretly despite their promise to suspend the whole program.
According to a repot by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IEAE), Iran and North Korea only had the sufficient nuclear capacity to develop weapons. IEAE further stated that these two countries, particularly Iran had no proper requirement nuclear reactor developments. In 2006, the United Nations Security Council had unanimously agreed that Iran should stop its nuclear enrichment with immediate effect. By the end of 2008, some countries had expressed their frustrations at the ineffectiveness of the sanctions on Iran and North Korea concerning the nuclear enrichments.
Among the countries that voiced their concerns were Germany, Israel and several other countries across the six continents. In showing their seriousness in implementing the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) sanctions, US should no meet the Iranian and North Korea leaders for any negotiations. In case of any negotiations, US could be accused of its incompetence to act on the UNSC deliberations on the two countries.
The debate should though not be based on these facts are there are other versions to these facts. The meeting between the US and the leaders of these countries could be beneficial to the world’s peaceful co-existence. It is therefore important to tackle the emerging issue through dialogue. According to the Iranians, the nuclear energy is meant to substitute reliance on petroleum for electricity production. The main reason for development of the nuclear project is to generate about 23,000 Megawatts of electricity according to Iranian authorities.
Taking the current pumping rates, the Iranian authorities reported that its oil reserves could only last 75 years. According to Rodger Stern of John Hopkins University, it could be possible that Iranian Oil export could significantly reduce by the year 2014 and 2015 due to overreliance on oil. In earlier years, Gerald Ford administration had come to the same conclusions. To further substantiate these fears, Foreign Affairs Select Committee of British Parliament and the US National Academy of Sciences had separately confirmed that the Iran government had genuine economic basis for the development of a nuclear program. Back in 2005, the New York Times had reported that the bipartisan Congressional inquiry had confirmed that United States had insufficient intelligence to make any conclusions concerning the Iran nuclear power. The Western worlds are slowly admitting their support for the Iran’s nuclear power. President Bush for instance acknowledged later in 2007 that Iran had sovereign right to a civilian nuclear technology.
In 2009 (during President Obama’s administration), both the US Director of National Intelligence and the Director of Defense Intelligence Agency gave some eye opening developments. These two directors testified before the US Congress that Iran did not have such highly enriched Uranium that could be used in bomb making. They further said that Iran had not showed any intention of producing the same. They also confirmed that the controversial Iran missile program was not in any way linked to its nuclear program.
Considering the benefits and reasons as to why Iran initiated this nuclear program, it would only be fair if US met Iran and possibly North Korea leaders to chat way out of this stalemate. In order to show their full respect for equal and inalienable rights to its fellow nations, US should meet Iran and North Korea with a view of looking for a solution. The US need to recognize that all nations should be left to explore modern technologies (nuclear energy included) for peaceful uses. Several countries in the world including Russia, Algeria, Iraq, Indonesia, and Egypt among others have expressed their support for Iran in its standoff with US concerning this issue. They ruled out use of military force on Iran and warned against continued sanctions by the UNSC. It is therefore in the interest of the whole world that US should seek dialogue with Iran and North Korea leaders to find amicable solution to the nuclear power standoff.