UPDATES

Dangers in the Iran Nuclear Deal

Apr 8, 2015 | Glen Falkenstein

Dangers in the Iran Nuclear Deal
Courier Mail 8 April 2015

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/opinion/deals-done-by-the-west-in-the-fight-against-isis-need-to-ensure-iran-cannot-develop-nuclear-bombs/story-fnihsr9v-1227294687202

Glen Falkenstein

Courier Mail – April 08, 2015

PRINCE Turki al-Faisal, Saudi Arabia’s former intelligence chief, warned last month a deal that allows Iran a pathway to create a nuclear bomb could ignite a new arms race in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia and South Korea have already signed a memorandum of understanding on nuclear power. Nuclear weapons arrangements with Pakistan could be seriously examined by Saudi Arabia as a result of Friday’s announcement of a framework deal with Iran by the US and other Western powers. To be finalised by June 30, the unsigned deal has raised alarm across the Middle East.

While the deal limits Iran’s centrifuges from operating at full capacity for 10 years, after that it could continue to enrich uranium.

Concerns also surround the implementation and monitoring of the deal, since Iran historically has refused numerous demands by the International Atomic Energy Agency to inspect their nuclear facilities.

Iran’s main objective, a collapse of the effective sanctions imposed on it in recent years, will be achieved along with the subsequent revival of its economy. Iran would theoretically be subject to a snapback of sanctions if it breaches the deal, yet these sanctions would be very difficult to implement again.

Despite these sanctions, Iran has consistently provided extensive support, including finance, arms, fighters and training to groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq which has fuelled Shi’ite/Sunni conflict in the region. Western allies in the Middle East, Arab and Israeli, are deeply concerned that the deal, entailing the drawback in economic sanctions and easing of Iran’s economic constraints, lacks sufficient safeguards to ensure that a prospering Iranian economy can’t provide even more support to Iranian-backed proxies to escalate war and terrorist attacks against them.

A nuclear deal that threatens Saudi Arabia and others, including Egypt and Jordan, could further undermine security in the region. It may force some countries to adopt elaborate precautions and/or nuclear deterrence options, rather than relying on the US and Western allies if the final deal does not include sufficient safeguards against Iranian challenges.

Increased nuclear proliferation in the region would likely lead to a rise in respective stocks of prohibited weapons, exacerbated tensions between major powers, overt anxiety among smaller, nuclear-free states and in extreme circumstances, threats to deploy said weapons.

While Western powers including the US have been covertly operating with Iranian military forces in an attempt to counter the spread of ISIS in Iraq and Syria, a nuclear-armed Iran is viewed by many as a more significant long-term threat than ISIS.

With Foreign Minister Julie Bishop’s scheduled visit to Iran in two weeks, it is now critical for all Western powers to take great care to avoid prematurely conferring undeserved legitimacy to a still extremist, radical Shi’ite regime.

Glen Falkenstein is a policy analyst at the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council.

 

RELATED ARTICLES


455daec3 C2a8 8752 C215 B7bd062c6bbc

After the Israel-Hamas ceasefire for hostages deal

Nov 29, 2023 | Update
Screenshot of Hamas bodycam footage as terrorists approach an Israeli vehicle during the terror organisation's October 7, 2023 attack in southern Israel, released by the IDF and GPO (Screenshot)

Horror on Video / International Law and the Hamas War

Oct 31, 2023 | Update
Sderot, Israel. 7th Oct, 2023. Bodies of dead Israelis lie on the ground following the attacks of Hamas (Image: Ilia Yefimovich/dpa/Alamy Live News)

Israel’s Sept. 11, only worse

Oct 11, 2023 | Update
Israeli PM Binyamin Netanyahu (r) gets his long-awaited face-to-face meeting with US President Joe Biden in New York (Photo: Avi Ohayon, Israeli Government Press Office)

Netanyahu meets Biden, other world leaders, in New York

Sep 27, 2023 | Update
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who gave an address on Aug. 28 threatening the US and laying out the Iranian-led axis's new "unity of the arenas" doctrine. (Photo: Shutterstock, mohammad kassir)

US-Iran prisoner swap deal set to go through

Sep 12, 2023 | Update
A rally of Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party last year: Yet outside these faithful, Abbas is not only largely unpopular, but his rule over the PA has seen the Palestinian parliament dissolved, judiciary sidelined, and his party hollowed out (Photo: Shutterstock, Anas-Mohammed)

The Crisis in the PA

Aug 28, 2023 | Update

SIGN UP FOR AIJAC EMAILS

RECENT POSTS

A barrage of words charged with venomous lies targets Australian Jews daily (Image: Shutterstock)

The Last Word: Words – Holy and hateful

The 2020 International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance Ministerial Declaration (Image: US Dept of State)

Europa Europa: Empty words

Mghead2

Biblio File: The Education of an Editor

Memorial composed of photos of young Israelis killed during the terrorist attack on the NOVA Festival which took place on October 7, 2023 a few kilometers from Gaza (Image: Jose Hernandez/ Camera 51/ Shutterstock)

The world’s ‘Triple Standard’ against Israel endangers global security

Image: Abed Rahim Khatib/ Shutterstock

A plan for Gaza

A barrage of words charged with venomous lies targets Australian Jews daily (Image: Shutterstock)

The Last Word: Words – Holy and hateful

The 2020 International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance Ministerial Declaration (Image: US Dept of State)

Europa Europa: Empty words

Mghead2

Biblio File: The Education of an Editor

Memorial composed of photos of young Israelis killed during the terrorist attack on the NOVA Festival which took place on October 7, 2023 a few kilometers from Gaza (Image: Jose Hernandez/ Camera 51/ Shutterstock)

The world’s ‘Triple Standard’ against Israel endangers global security

Image: Abed Rahim Khatib/ Shutterstock

A plan for Gaza

SORT BY TOPICS