Can the World Stand a Nuclear Iran?

Abstract

The United States and the world are standing on the brink of mass proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. While there are normally three weapons we think of (nuclear chemical and biological) as being in this category nuclear weapons maintain a clear and present danger to the security of the United States of America. Further the threat of these weapons getting into the hands of terrorists poses a serious challenge to being able to stop nuclear weapons from detonating on American soil. With the end of the cold war strategic alliances and the former Soviet Union's ability to manage and control stockpiles of nuclear weapons the threat has gone from mutually assured destruction to use by terrorists. The world needs a new and improved nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT) that is amended to reflect the realities of a globalized and non-cold war environment. Strategic partnerships with old foes (specifically Russia) and implementation of a NPT amendment with provisions not only to deal with the situation in Iran but also the entire world are needed now. This paper focuses upon Iran and its current drive to produce nuclear weapons since what is done concerning Iran will set the standard from now on.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 18, 2005
Accession Number
ADA432651

Entities

People

  • John H. Pearson

Organizations

  • United States Army War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Counter WMD

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Arms Control
  • Arms Control Treaties
  • Fissile Materials
  • Fissionable Materials
  • Governments
  • International Law
  • Law
  • Middle East
  • National Security
  • Nuclear Fuels
  • Nuclear Materials
  • Nuclear Weapons
  • Treaties
  • United States
  • War Colleges
  • Weapons Of Mass Destruction

Fields of Study

  • Political science

Readers

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