Why Iran Wants the Bomb, and Why We Can't Stop Them

I am amazed that people still cannot understand why Iran continues to pursue its nuclear weapons program. In 2002 President Bush named three countries which constituted an Axis of Evil in his mind. He then promptly invaded the most vulnerable of the three. Iran is clearly next for two reasons. First, they are on the border with Iraq. Second, unlike the third link in the Axis of Evil, North Korea, they have no nuclear weapons with which to defend themselves. So it is in the interest of Iran’s national security to develop nuclear weapons as a deterrent against the United States (incidentally, for the same reason it is also in their interest for the conflict in Iraq to be as long and costly as possible).

By speaking and acting aggressively, we antagonized Iran unnecessarily, and thus failed to act in our own best interests. There is no real economic or political reason why the interests of the United States and Iran ought not to coincide. For this reason we ought to reach out to Iran diplomatically. By assuring them with our actions that we desire peace and good relations, we take away any their incentive to develop nuclear weapons.