Iran and the bomb: the abdication of international responsibility

Abstract

The Iranian regime is in the middle of a dangerous nuclear poker game with the West. Drawing on her inside knowledge and experience, Therese Delpech provides a hard-hitting analysis of Iran's intentions and its ability to beguile the international community, often with the aid of China and Russia, two countries eager to benefit from Iran's acquisition of nuclear weapons. Delpech is one of the world's leading authorities on international nuclear security, and in this book, she dissects Iran's program in minute detail. Delpech begins with a history of Iran's nuclear project-which was launched with the help of several Western countries-from the 1970s to today. She examines the reasons behind Iran's renewed interest in nuclear power during its war with Iraq, and the national pride, exemplified by Mahmoud Amadinejad's bellicose rhetoric, that prevents the country from bowing to the dictates of the international community. Then she dissects the strategy of the various actors in this new global crisis: Iran, the commonly termed EU 3 (United Kingdom, France, and Germany), the United States, Russia, China, and the International Atomic Energy Agency. Delpech follows with an analysis of the feasibility, practicality, and political viability of such possible solutions as dismantling by force, supervised third party reprocessing, referral to the United Nations' Security Council, and Iranian appeasement. In conclusion, Delpech unravels the tangled regional and international dimensions of the crisis, detailing the enormous impact of Iran's game on the Persian Gulf, Turkey, the political and military movements of Israel, America's presence in Iraq and the wider Middle East, and the future of the much-weakened Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.