Caution over haste with Iran
One of the last things most people want to see is nuclear weapons in the hands of people we don’t really trust with weapons of lesser destruction. So to find out that Iran has a nuclear facility hidden under a military base is something that should have us all worried.
Even more so if we consider the implications of our government and others being somewhat aware of the facility’s presence.
But regardless of who knew what and what we should have done to begin with, serious action needs to be taken now. Figuring out exactly what that action should be, however, is a tricky matter.
Most people are calling for some heavy sanctions to be placed on the country, but it seems like it would be the same old song and dance as before. And the fact that we’re back in this spot just goes to show that it didn’t work in the long run last time either. Not to mention that this might be more difficult than it sounds if we can’t get China or Russia on board for the idea.
The problem with saying that there should be more than just a sanction involved in what is done here is that there isn’t any more pleasant option. We can’t just declare war and invade, as that would be far too extreme and we’re in too many of those already.
What makes this especially difficult is that negotiations don’t seem to hold very much promise, since we’ve seen that the government itself isn’t very trustworthy. And even if they were, we can’t really give them most of the things that they want, as it involves old religious quarrels or even older territorial disputes of the region.
So what do we do if all the options of taking out the problem, from going through the system, the soldiers, or a stern talking-to, don’t look too promising?
Sitting around and debating that question won’t do us too many favors if we take too long. These are dangerous people, after all, with a long list of enemies they might enjoy taking a nuke to, ourselves included.
In the end, what should work best for getting Iran to back down is to hit them where it really hurts in the modern world… the wallet. With as much money as they make exporting oil around the world, they are rather dependent on the global market. Without some of that world money flowing in, they can’t exactly send it out for any of the parts for their nuclear technology.
But having the rest of the world come together and agree not to do that much business with Iran is essentially like the sanctions we’ve put on them before. They just start hiding all their little secrets a little better and hope we don’t notice.
So if we’re going to do this, then we’re going to have to do it right.
If the United Nations sets up a program to coerce Iran into giving up its nuclear program under certain conditions, they have to go in there from time to time and make sure they’ve actually given it up. Otherwise… well, we might just be seeing this again five years down the road.