A Nuclear-Armed Iran's Impact on Global Security

Abstract

In the troubled Middle East, best by the continuing war in Iraq, stalled Middle East peace, and extremist Islamic terrorists lurking in both the Middle East and adjacent areas, including Europe, it would seem that the last thing the world needs is an Iran equipped with nuclear weapons. It would seem to be a new destabilizing element. On one hand, Iranis proliferation seems inevitable, given the intransigent view of a theocratic government that is ever more entrenched in power. On the other, nuclear weapons are very unusable weapons, especially if a country has just a few and given Americas overwhelming nuclear superiority, plus Israels possession of nuclear weapons. Furthermore, despite piling up billions of dollars as oil prices rise, Iranis economy is precarious, with high unemployment and a restless population, and they can ill-afford to cut themselves off from the worldunless China offers an alternative globalization as it were.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 01, 2005
Accession Number
AD1014562

Entities

People

  • Daniel J. Whiteneck
  • Henry H. Gaffney
  • Lucio Martino

Organizations

  • Center for Naval Analyses

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Counter WMD

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Commerce
  • Economic Sanctions
  • Employment
  • Foreign Policy
  • Globalization
  • Governments
  • International Organizations
  • International Relations
  • National Politics
  • National Security
  • Nuclear Energy
  • Terrorism
  • Terrorists
  • Treaties
  • United States
  • Weapons Of Mass Destruction

Fields of Study

  • Political science

Readers

  • Educational Psychology
  • Nuclear Non-Proliferation and International Security
  • Strategic Security Studies