Can anyone explain Iran?
Last week, the International Atomic Energy Agency released an independent report stating that Iran was not, in fact, developing nuclear weapons. This report corroborates almost everything Iran has said about its nuclear programme since 2003. However, the US is claiming that the report is wrong, and Iran is developing nuclear weapons, even though I haven’t seen a shred of evidence for it. Iran is now engaging in talks with the IAEA about their nuclear facilities at Isfahan, and everyone seems to hope that Iran will stop its nuclear programme. Under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty of 1968, every country, including Iran, has a right to nuclear energy for peaceful purposes (see Article IV). And yet, no one seems to want them to do this.
I could understand this anxiety if Iran had recently been trying to be an aggressive, dangerous country, but try as I might, I can’t seem to dig up anything that bad on them. Certainly, they’re not a shining utopia. But still, they don’t seem that bad. When the current government came to power in 1979, they took a bunch of Americans hostage for a year, but that was because the United States was initiating a covert CIA project called Operation Ajax to stop that same revolution and keep the Shah in power. I’d say this is mean, but justifiable. When another country is having a revolution, don’t go sticking your nose in their business, or else you might get in trouble. For several years after that, Irani gunboats shot at US warships, partly because the US was violating their waterspace (is that a word?). In response, we shot down their civilian aircraft (though we later apologized). Again, this isn’t particularly great, but I can understand why Iran might want to shoot at the ships in their waters, especially after Iran Air flight 655. During the 1980’s, Iran was an ally, albeit an unpopular one, in the Iran/Contra scandal (they don’t like Israel and had some Israeli hostages, but the US was the country doing all the illegal things). Again, they were an ally in the Gulf War.
I honestly can’t find anything particularly aggressive or bad that Iran has done since the current government came to power. The only thing I don’t like is that they seem to hate Israel, but even that is justifiable (after all, Israel can be considered an unjust occupation of a Palestinian state). Why are the US and EU so distrustful of Iran that they are trying, against all evidence, to keep Iran from exercising what everyone acknowledges is an inalienable right to peaceful nuclear power? Any insight is welcome.
Well, for starters, Iran has one of the most oppressive governments on Earth. During the revolution that brought the Ayatollah to power, thousands of people were killed and imprisoned (and still continue to be) for not going along with it, voicing contrary opinions, “being to Western,” etc., silly things like that…it is ruled by a despotic, pseudo-theocratic regime which forces woman to completely cover themselves by law, much like the Taliban did in Afghanistan…add that to the official policies of extermination of America and Israel…etc. I would not ever use “Iranian Government” and “Peaceful” in the same sentence.
You should read, “Reading Lolita in Tehran,” by Azir Nafisi, where she writes about her experience of being expelled from teaching at the university (after refusing to wear the veil) after watching both students and colleagues killed, tortured, and imprisoned quite arbitrarily. Among my favorite parts are the way she describes the way her the livelihood of her daughter has been destroyed because being a woman and doing something like, say, licking an ice cream cone or wearing lipstick can cause you to be imprisoned and/or beaten.
Yes, the Iranian regime sucks for women and others. But I’d hardly say that they’re as bad as the Taliban was. Women have an equal right to attend school. They may pursue careers and they have voting and other rights. While they must wear the veil (and modest clothing), the chador (the Iranian burkah-equivalent) is not required.
In any case, though, I don’t really think that imposing hyperconservative norms is really a standard reason to deny a country nuclear power. We may not like Iran’s domestic policies, but denying them the use of a reliable electricity source isn’t going to do anything about that. And, as Alan wrote, Iran’s behaved itself pretty well recently in the international sphere.
My best guess is that the current administration has already labeled Iran as a “bad guy”–a member of the Axis of Evil. Therefore, we are unwilling to allow them *any* means to improve their country. But, unless there’s some intelligence somewhere out there that makes the case that Iran’s nuclear developments are not merely civilian, I still don’t understand the EU’s opposition…
Well put!
Thanks for writing. I was going to make a similar response, but you were much more eloquent than I would have been!
I like the new icon – what’s it from?
Re: Well put!
It’s from a recent Achewood strip.
I like it mostly because there’s no way anyone would ever guess that it represents a passed-out squirrel in a KFC bucket…
Iran’s regime is DEFINITELY evil. Plenty of Iranians who have fled or tried to flee the country (such as Azar Nafisi) could tell you that.
Can Anyone explain Iran?
I can help.
http://www.crisispapers.org/guests/hucul.htm