In the shadow of Iran's nuclear threat

With Thursday's commencement of another International Atomic Energy Agency meeting to discuss Iran's nuclear pursuits, it is time to take a realistic look at the potential threat. At best, a nuclear armed Iran would undo the delicate balance of power in the Middle East. At worst, it could start a global Armageddon.

The solutions being offered range from military action to continued negotiations and granting of more concessions. But the possibility of a nuclear armed Iran is some way off. The director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Vice Admiral Lowell Jacoby, testified in February 2005 that Iran is unlikely to have the ability to build a nuclear weapon before "early in the next decade."

Iranian-backed terrorism, on the other hand, is happening right now. Individuals are being killed almost every week as a result, and over the past two-and-a-half decades many people - including Americans - have died because of it.

Tehran makes no effort to deny its connection with what it calls "resistance groups" or "liberation movements" and what Washington calls "foreign terrorist organizations." On the last day of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's trip to Damascus, Syria on Jan. 20, he met with Hizbullah's Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader Ramadan Abdallah Shallah, and Hamas political bureau chief Khalid Mishaal. These three visited Tehran in August, September, and December 2005, respectively. Mr. Ahmadinejad also met with the leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, General Command Secretary-General Ahmed Jibril.

The Jan. 20 meeting garnered no attention in the Western media, which instead focused on the expressions of mutual support from the presidents of two countries facing international censure for their egregious behavior. However, Hizbullah's Al-Manar television and Iranian state radio did report on the meeting, at which Ahmadinejad and the Arabs reportedly discussed the need for unity and resistance in protecting Lebanon. According to Iranian state radio, the Iranian president described "resistance, unity, and tranquility" as the requirements for defeating US efforts to strengthen the "Jerusalem-occupying regime," Israel.

At a press conference one day before the meeting, Ahmadinejad and his host, President Bashar al-Assad, addressed similar topics. They stressed that "the world arrogance and Zionism should not be given the chance to fulfill their plots in Lebanon and turn the country back to the stage of civil and ethnic wars of 25 years ago." Turning to Palestinian affairs, they called for "continued resistance" as the "only way" to end "the occupation of the holy Islamic lands."

Page: 1 | 2