Nuclear Threat

An Iran armed with nuclear weapons is something that none of us are looking forward to, but according to The Economist, soon this might be a reality.

The decent thing for every country to do is to simply get rid of all of their nuclear weapons... but as always things are not so simple.
I try to understand why living in a world with many countries having nuclear weapons is an acceptable idea, as of now there are 9 states that own the weapon:

- USA
- Russia
- China
- France
- Pakistan
- India
- North Korea
- Israel
- UK

The documentary "Countdown To Zero"- which argues that the likelihood of the use of nuclear weapons has increased since the end of the cold war due to terrorism, nuclear proliferation, theft of nuclear materials and weapons; states that the only acceptable number of nuclear bombs is zero. And after watching the documentary, you will very likely agree.

Now getting to the fact that Iran might be able to produce its own nuclear bomb soon. Israel has the weapon, so does India and Pakistan. If Iran gets it as well, Egypt and Turkey might find themselves with the need to also have the weapon, to remain a local power. In this scenario we would have a Middle East packed with nuclear weapons. Which is a pretty scary scenario, specially when taking in consideration the following statement:

The Economist:
"Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, recently called the “Zionist regime” a “cancerous tumour that must be cut out.”

Why doesn't Israel or the US  just go in and bomb the Iranian nuclear plants?

Well they would if they could, but The Economist argues that bombing Iranian nuclear plants it's not that simple. The Iranian nuclear plants are disperse and deep underground, many are resistent to aerial attack. And After the Afghanistan and Iraq war the US will not be very willing to do a ground invasion.

Diplomacy is the approach being applied right now:

"EU Sanctions Impede Iran Oil Shipments to Asia" - WSJ

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204653604577251210049651108.html

Iran's economy relies heavily on oil exports and with this approach the West is predicting that Iran will run out of resources to continue their nuclear program.

But the question is who will win this race, Western diplomacy or the Iranian nuclear program?

Full article at
*http://www.economist.com/node/21548233