By Fouad Al-Obaid, Staff columnist
Ever since the rise to power of what is deemed to be conservative religious leaders, the Islamic State of Iran has been faced with several problems. Its ambition to develop its own nuclear energy, which it claims is for peaceful use (the matter is still to be debated), is simultaneously faced with external as well as internal pressures.
The question that many observers ask themselves with regards to the nuclear dossier is whether Iran is serious in its desire to reduce its dependence on oil (which today, more than ever, is Iran’s blood line and a major source of cash) or is it a bid to regain its place in the region and to eventually play an active role in the affairs of neighboring states.
It is understandable that Iran would want to diversify its energy source by freeing up more oil for export. The issue with its nuclear ambition is that when the objectives are not very clear, when the leadership is not seen externally as being neither stable nor reasonable and when there is a sincere feeling of anxiety amongst regional powers, the issue is no longer one of energy security, rather it becomes one of regional stability.
It is needless to mention that the nuclear crises is not as important to the its own population as the ongoing shortage of fuel which is creating domestic tension. When that is added to its youth, who constitute a vast chunk of the population, out of which many have not seen life other than the one imposed to them by the Islamic Revolution. With a clearly restricted sense of liberty and with an unusually high rate of unemployment amongst the youth which are estimated to be hovering around 52 percent, the s
tatistics would call the true reason for the Islamic Republic’s leadership to press the nuclear issue when it clearly has much more pressing issues at hand.
With such statistics, one can only but question the validity or the lucidity of the Iranian leadership to engage in a program that is clearly costing its credibility amongst world power and making its own citizens disillusioned as promises fail to materialize. I am not from Iran and I have never been to it, however I know from books and documentaries that Iran is a great nation. One that had spanned the ages and time and a civilization that has been around for millennia.
The Persian Empire was a great empire that stretched from the Mediterranean to the Perso-Arabian Gulf. It certainly was the home to great poets, scholars, intellectuals, and discoverers. It is thus understandable that it is trying to regain it’s somewhat lost prestige.
However it should realize that in the modern world framework, countries sovereignty are rarely violable. Moreover in the eventuality of aggression, the world community would certainly not remain silent, especially when it comes down to a volatile region that the Middle East today has become.
With the dispatching of a yet another US air-craft carrier group which would bring the total in the Gulf to three, coupled with news reports that the US is considering military action to deter and prevent Iran from fully developing its nuclear potential out of fear of nuclear armament production. When that is added to Iran’s existent missile capabilities (although it still has a limited ICBM range, it is still capable of striking targets within its vicinity including Israel). The situation that today we ar
e faced with is a real headache, for if the US is either unwilling to take action, it is plausible that Israel does.
If that is the case, it would come to create a situation where the outcome of such a conflict is best left in the dark. For the possible damages could bring about Armageddon to the region if nuclear weapons are involved.
I call on the people of Iran to find reason. War is not a solution, remember the eight year war and its consequence. As for the leadership, threatening countries is a cheap way to distract the people of the real problems that are internal. No matter how much one would like to blame external factors, the tense situation will un-doubtfully turn against you in the long run.