Nuclear Iran: Panacea Or Bad Idea? Join HuffPost For A Live Discussion

On Sunday, an Iranian Revolutionary Guard General threatened to wipe out Israel if attacked by the Jewish state, while announcing plans for upcoming missile tests. The news came as Europe began enforcing an oil embargo and new sanctions against Iran to deter it from developing a nuclear weapon.

But in an article in the July/August edition of Foreign Affairs Magazine, Berkeley professor and international relations theorist Kenneth N. Waltz argues that giving Iran the bomb would put it on more equal footing with its nuclear rivals -- namely the United States and Israel -- improving its relations with them and restoring stability to the Middle East.

Could allowing Iran to develop nuclear weapons bring peace to the region? Is nuclear symmetry the answer? Or is Iran too unstable and too threatening to be trusted with nuclear weapons?

Watch our online discussion with author, scholar, and activist Reza Aslan and Iranian-American journalist Hooman Majd at 3:00PM EST on Tuesday, July 3, 2012.

Comments

[Anders Stenstedt]

07:12 PM on 07/06/2012

the issue is not so much nuclearizing iran, but denuking the world. iran wants parity with israel and only then can real iranians stand up and denounce the idea of wiping israel from the map. this is our horror show. what does america think we should do about our own culpability regarding how the islamic republic overthrew a despotic and weak shah? maybe we should start with an apology and recognize that israel needs to mend fences with at least some of its angry neighbors.

seems so simple.

[RibEye]

01:18 PM on 07/04/2012

Here is an option: End the sanctions and start full open trade, economic and diplomatic relations with Iran. Let the middle class, who is under destruction, thrive and develop, just like Turkey. The middle class, who sees economical foundations and national interests, as primary objectives as opposed to an Iron grip on power, can gain momentum. The gates for moderation will be open for the Iranian people mainly by the middle class. I fully agree with Reza’s comment about the worst case scenario being a regime which has been attacked. As for letting them, have the big one, why not? They are rational. Those who disagree should remember that supporting Saudi Arabia and sunnis has not gone well. Letting Iran have the weapon might just bring about a less paranoid and a friendlier regime, who also likes money, especially when there is no gun to its head.

[mamacat]

07:29 AM on 07/04/2012

In the 1950s, Britain and the USA got together to overthrow the democratically elected, not anti-Western government of Iran, and installed a dictatorship, in order to maximize corporate profits for an oil corporation. Some twenty years later the American supported dictatorship was overthrown by forces led by religious extremists. Young people in Iran took Americans in the country hostage, but did not kill any of them. President Carter negotiated for their release through peaceful means, after the failure of a military rescue effort. American Republicans talked Iranian leaders into keeping the hostages prisoner until after the American election, to help get their candidate, Ronald Reagan, elected. After getting elected, the Republican President vilified the Iranian revolutionaries, turning them into bogeymen in public for political reasons. In the Iran-Contra scandal, meanwhile, it was revealed that the Republican White House had secretly entered into negotiations to sell parts to Iran for its Shah-era American weapons, in order to fund the White House's secret and illegal war against the elected government of Nicaragua. Iran needed parts for its American weapons because of the war being conducted against it by Saddam Hussein, which the government of Ronald Reagan had encouraged and facilitated, up to the use of poison gas.

For the last 60 years American foreign policy and affairs with Iran have been disastrous. In the medical profession there is a motto, "First, do no harm."

[snowballinhell]

06:17 PM on 07/04/2012

Thank you for the concise and accurate synopsis of US/Iranian history.

[mamacat]

07:04 AM on 07/04/2012

More from the article in Foreign Affairs:

http://www.japantoday.com/category/commentary/view/what-if-iran-gets-the-bomb?utm_campaign=jt_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_source=jt_newsletter_2012-07-04_PM

It is certainly true that there has never been a nuclear war between two powers who each had the bomb, although the US and the USSR came very close at least twice that we know of.

If Iran got the bomb, as Pakistan, India, China, France, Britain, Israel, the USSR and the USA before it, it appears the most imminent threat to peace would be because of the possibility of a pre-emptive war waged by Israel or the USA. Blaming Iran for a pre-emptive war waged by other nations seems to me like blaming the victim of a rape for being raped.

[Macready]

09:33 AM on 07/04/2012

fanned again mamacat ...ditto ..

[WBMD]

09:38 AM on 07/04/2012

What part of:
"Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Hassan Firouzabadi said threats and pressures cannot deter Iran from its revolutionary causes and ideals, and stressed that the Iranian nation will remain committed to the full annihilation of the Zionist regime of Israel to the end."

do you deny, or not understand?

[aliblues]

05:52 AM on 07/04/2012

If Iran ever had a bomb, nothing would happen, just that they would feel rather safe from foreign interference,
I am convinced that Iran will be a stabilising element within the region and very responsible, since even without sanctions they are hungry for economic recovery and employment creation.
Also the whole political spectrum of the country will be liberalised since they know that without real BASIC freedom ,no economic recovery will ever arrive.

[WBMD]

09:40 AM on 07/04/2012

"If Iran ever had a bomb, nothing would happen, "

Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Hassan Firouzabadi said threats and pressures cannot deter Iran from its revolutionary causes and ideals, and stressed that the Iranian nation will remain committed to the full annihilation of the Zionist regime of Israel to the end.

How do you square those 2 comments?

[aliblues]

10:34 AM on 07/04/2012

full annihilation of the Zionist regime of Israel
Have you ever read all comments that comes out of Israel against Iran at all?
well the annihilation of Zionist regime means the change of regime, not extermination of 6 million Israelis,
So we should be more sincere if we use such comments......
besides there is also a propaganda war going on so if Israel & USA continuously threaten war with Iran, what do you expect them to say?
PLEASE DO ATTACK US, BOMB US, EXTERMINATE US JUST LIKE IRAQIS, THE AFGANS ,ETC......

[any mouse]

09:02 AM on 07/05/2012

So?

The US threaten regime change all the time to dozens of countries.

Working to change the regime in Palestine (AKA Israel) does NOT mean the destruction of Jews, it merely means another political structure will be in place in Palestine and Jews that don't like the new political structure can simply move to where they like the political structures better.

There is NO ONE on earth advocating the death of even half the Jews on earth let alone all of them (hard to do since Jews are spread all over the earth). There are a huge number of people on earth that feel that the Israeli regime is evil, but NOT Jews.

[Michael Falcon]

04:19 AM on 07/04/2012

As long an apartheid regime Israel have Nuke, Iran should have one too.

[Macready]

09:33 AM on 07/04/2012

x2

[Yarden]

12:39 PM on 07/04/2012

Apartheid regime in Israel. Your aware that we have an Arab General in the IDF and an Persian muslim in coalition with out Prime Minister right? You must be American and brainwashed by the American media about Israel.

[Freenation]

04:39 PM on 07/05/2012

'You must be American and brainwashed by the American media about Israel.'

lol...american msm is the only reason there is no peace courtesy likes of self declared neocon pundits kristol, krauthahmmer, pikes and endless others...

[KIVPossum]

01:33 AM on 07/04/2012

Have no more concern about Iran having the bom.b than about Israel having it

That is - scares the poo out of me for either of them to have nukes

[Yarden]

12:40 PM on 07/04/2012

Israel has had nukes since the 1960's. What has Israel ever done with their nuclear weapons that have scared you? Your aware that Iran sponsor terrorism right?

[MIKEinNYC]

12:56 AM on 07/04/2012

Iran has no real, legitimate government. The people who purport to run the country are unelected, Twelver, religious fanatics who hijacked the country by force of arms in an effort to make their make-believe, messianic dreams come true by bringing about the coming out of some mythical 12th imam. There's no talking to them about nukes. There is only talking to them about the terms of their departure. Maybe their buddy Chavez the atheist can give them asylum from the heck that's about to come their way.

It's like the Mafia took over Italy, or a drug cartel took over Mexico. Would you negotiate with them like they were a real government? That's what you have here.

[Roelvdwegen]

06:12 AM on 07/04/2012

You really do not have any other argument then "They're RELIGIOUS NUTS!"?

Well if they are so religious according to you then you have to take the anti-nuke fatwa seriously.

[MIKEinNYC]

09:07 AM on 07/04/2012

The anti-nuke so-called "fatwa", is takia, (or however you want to spell it), Koranically endorsed lying and deception.

[MIKEinNYC]

09:18 AM on 07/04/2012

No. The argument here is that they're illegitimate and took over the country by force. This bunch of lunatics happen to be motivated by their bs religion but if they were motivated by greed or some other philosophy like Communism, I'd be saying the same thing. Who elected them? How do you vote them out? No can do!

[mariusvinchi]

12:38 AM on 07/04/2012

Absolutely not! Frankly, it's terrifying to think of ANY theocratic nation in possession of weapons of mass destruction!! For that matter, I would like to see ALL nuclear weapons dismantled and internationally banned...

[Joseph Fattal]

09:49 PM on 07/03/2012

If they can't make it they'll buy it.

[meb1357]

09:37 PM on 07/03/2012

A nuclear Iran would counter Israeli aggression. Israel wouldn't so quick to invade Lebanon or Gaza, or to expand its colonies in the West Bank if it faced a credible counter balance.

[zl1087]

11:45 PM on 07/04/2012

Because Israel hasn't offered the Palestinians 98% of the West Bank, Gaza, and E. Jerusalem before right? When has Israel ever invaded Gaza? You mean when they won it from the Egyptians and then gave it all to the Arabs who then turned it into a terrorist rocket launching point so they can shoot at school busses and total residential areas? Right...and when soldiers are taken from inside your borders and hung, like they were in Lebanon, you wouldn't send your army in after them?

[WJeanMcBean]

09:25 PM on 07/03/2012

I wouldn't give the Iranian regime a water pistol.

[Macready]

09:35 AM on 07/04/2012

they have signed the NPT, allow inspections and don't have any nukes . . . but israel has not signed the NPT, won't allow inspections and has about 200-400 nukes . . . and keeps threatening not only Iran but periodically its other neighbours . . .so "what's good for the goose is good for the gander"

I would rather everyone got rid of their nukes but .. .

[WJeanMcBean]

07:51 PM on 07/04/2012

I do not believe that anyone can say what they do have or do not have at this point in time.
They allow inspections where they want people to go.
Iran does more than threaten. They support others to attack Israel.
On a personal note, no Canadian journalist has been abused, raped and beaten to death in Israel as they have in Iran with the government doing whatever they could to cover it up.
No Israeli government has issued a death sentence against a Canadian resident for trumped up charges of hosting a porn site as they have in Iran.
No Israeli government has hired people from Israel to follow around Israelis who live in Canada to dig up dirt about them and report back to their government as Iran does. None of my friends who have gone to Israel have ever been harassed as they have been in Iran. When Iranian born people who are now Canadian citizens try to return to visit their families, they can be detained for days and harassed and abused to try to find out if they are taking part in any subversive actitivities in Canada against the Mullahs.
I will put my money on Israel not using their nukes. I can't guarantee that a country that abuses its own people, harasses them in other countries, stones women to death etc can be trusted to know the outcome of using nuclear weaponry.

[streetmagik]

08:00 PM on 07/03/2012

While we are at it why not hand out machine guns to convicts - once they feel they are on equal footing with the cops it will "restore stability"

[WBMD]

09:42 AM on 07/04/2012

I think that's been tried. I believe that was called "Fast and Furious".

[RibEye]

12:46 PM on 07/04/2012

good one

[LostDemocracy]

07:59 PM on 07/03/2012

Arguing 'that giving Iran the bomb would restore stability to the Middle East' should qualify Kenneth N. Waltz for free mental health services.

[tallen]

07:45 PM on 07/03/2012

It is absolutely insane to think that allowing the fanatical mullahs nuclear weapons would produce "stability".
Iran is ruled by religious fanatics who are both unelected and brutal in their reign. They are supported in power by a private religious army, and a cadre of modern day 'brownshirts'.
It is a country that hangs gays, adulterers, and political rivals charged with trumped up crimes against the 'state'. The regime is notorious for its involvement in worldwide terror as well as its frequent irrational statements on the *need* to exterminate a nation. It is a nation that actually has a national holiday designated "Death to America Day".

Anyone who thinks that such a regime should have nuclear weapons is delusional.

[aliblues]

05:56 AM on 07/04/2012

Despite your assumptions , Iranian foreign policy is highly rational ,
You should consider that since 1979, Iran has been under great pressure bhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/02/nuclear-iran-discussion_n_1643908.html?show_comment_id=165887412#y the USA; UK & France, they are not interested at all to see a democratic Iran so this is the game that they play, how ever if Iran is given room , then the whole regime will change track and the way to democratise the country will be open, it will take long but it will continue in that direction and all these elements within the regime will disappear.