Every day, we witness both electronic and print media launching fierce attacks on the Islamic Republic of Iran on the issue of uranium enrichment at the Bushehr nuclear plant.
In fact, Iran is left to fend off relentless attacks pretty much from all quarters. The fact is that the attackers have nothing to arm themselves with but just a slew of baseless accusations and assumptions.
Iran is asked to stop uranium enrichment unconditionally, with immediate effect, and start cooperating with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), or else, it is told, sanctions would follow. That’s not all; threats of air raid or even war are in the air.
Iran has always said that its uranium enrichment project is for scientific and other peaceful purposes like the production of energy.
Top Iranian officials have come out with unequivocal statements to the effect that there is absolutely no attempt to produce nuclear weapons. And this was confirmed by our reporter who recently visited the Bushehr reactor. But it is entirely another matter that the West is bent on creating bad blood between Iran and the international community. No wonder it casts doubts on the factual statements issued by the Iranian authorities regarding the nuclear project. In reality, however, the Western charges are groundless to the hilt.
Now let us assume that Iran does attempt to produce nuke weapons. As an independent country, it’s after all, within its right to take a conscientious decision in accordance with its needs and ambitions just like any other nuclear state. There exists no international law banning the possession of nuclear weapons, and if there is one, it is only fair that it be applied to all countries without any discrimination. Such laws, if applied to all nations, should result in the dismantling of not only the Iranian reactor but also all other nuclear reactors in the world.
The Dimona reactor of Israel, which is not far from Iran, is known to produce nuclear weapons. This was confirmed by none other than an Israeli scientist, Mordechai Vanunu who had worked in the plant and was put in prison for divulging the Israeli secret. However, this did not deter him from warning the world that the Dimona reactor poses a big threat to the peace of the world, especially the Middle East countries, not just in the event of an outbreak of war. There is always a chance for nuclear leakage if a natural disaster like an earthquake happens to occur. Despite this glaring truth, no one dared mention about the Israeli Dimona reactor — not even the IAEA that is duty-bound to warn Israel or call for the dismantling of the said reactor.
IAEA chief Mohammed El-Baradei hit the nail on the head when he told a Saudi magazine recently that the agency was well aware that Israel possesses over 200 nuclear heads but could not take any action against that country.
What difference is there between the Bushehr and Dimona plants? Both are nuclear plants but the risk from the Dimona reactor is far more fatal as it produces nuclear weapons — a fact that represents a clear threat to the region. There exists no evidence so far about the production of nuclear weapons at the Bushehr plant.
It is indeed the duty of all those who call for the non-proliferation of nuclear arms, in particular the IAEA, to deal with various nuclear controversies worldwide with a sense of equality and fairness. This would make the IAEA resolutions acceptable to all.
Those who make clarion calls to stop the uranium enrichment at the Bushehr plant and threaten Iran with sanctions should also tell Israel to cease nuclear operations at the Dimona facility.
— Essa bin Mohammed Al-Zedjali is editor in chief of The Times of Oman.
