Who's To Say Iran Shouldn't Have the Bomb?

Ayatollah range: Iran's Zelzal missile has a range of between 100 km and 200 km. Will it tip nuclear? (Majid/Getty Images)

We are constantly reminded—or told or warned or yelled at—that Iran should not get The Bomb. “The world,” even the fashionably reactionary New York Times wrote on in 2007, “should not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon.” Why not?

The world should not allow the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France, India, Pakistan and Israel to have nuclear weapons. But it does, not because the world wants a nuclear club, but because those nations never bothered asking permission to include mass destruction in their foreign-policy arsenal.

Nuclear-Club Hypocrisy

The United States (which spent $7.2 trillion building and maintaining 7,000 nuclear weapons) and the former Soviet Union (ditto), two old hands at mass extermination abroad and at home, came close to wiping out the planet over a couple of mindless standoffs during the Cold War. India and Pakistan came close to nuking each other a couple of times since 1998.

France and Britain through brutal colonialism or China through totalitarian repression at home each have the blood of millions on their conscience, even if by conventional means only. Israel has launched four offensive wars of choice since 1982 (three against Lebanon, one against Gaza), killing tens of thousands and diminishing prospects of a lasting peace in the region. None of these nations has standing to play nuclear cop in the world.

Read my full article, "What If Iran Had Nuclear Weapons?"

See Also:

• Your Turn: Why Isn't It Hypocrisy to Stop Iran's Bomb
• How Should Obama Deal With Iran?
• Is Iran a Nuclear Threat to Israel?
• Iran's Nuclear Weapons Program
• Profile: Iran's Ali Khamenei, "Supreme Leader"
• Ahmadinejad Leading the Blind
• The Secret Behind Ahmadinejad's Cheap Suits

And Elsewhere:

• How to Deal with Iran (New York Review)
• Seymour Hersh on covert operations in Iran