Reflection #9

Monday night I went to a panel discussion in the SIS building regarding Israeli-Iranian relations. It's obvious that this issue is of much concern to the MENA region and the United States as well. There were four panelists who spoke, each with differing views on Iran's possibility of acquiring a nuclear weapon. One man, clearly of Middle Eastern descent, spoke about preconceived notions of Iran are making the United States believe that there is no doubt Iran is building a nuclear weapon. He claimed that because of problems with Iran and the U.S in the 1970's, the U.S sees Iran in a bad light, thus assuming they are acquiring nuclear weapons. He continued to say that there is also a difference in acquiring nuclear "power" and nuclear weapons. What he thinks Iran seems to be doing is exercising it's rights to create nuclear power, not for military reasons, however. Contrary to his belief, the other three panelists believes that evidence leads the U.S to assume that Iran is, in fact, acquiring a nuclear weapon. I'm not sure what my opinion is on this matter quite yet, considering both arguments seem valid and understandable. I do think, however, that if Iran were to actually acquire a nuclear weapon, whatever that maybe, that it would not benefit the MENA region (specifically Israel), the U.S, or Iran itself whatsoever. I'm no expert on the matter, but acquiring nuclear weapons is a collective goods problem, and I have no doubt that Iran's actions would influence other countries to follow suit, making this a dangerous global issue.