(Scotsman-UK) Ardreshir Zahedi- Nine months ago, three EU foreign ministers returned from a mission to Tehran with a "peace-in-our-time" sheet of paper that they presented as a solemn accord committing Iran to strict limits to its ambitious nuclear program. We are now back where we were nine months ago - while Iran’s nuclear program has advanced by nine months. The present regime in Tehran is strategically committed to developing a nuclear "surge capacity" - to have the know-how, infrastructure, and personnel to develop a nuclear military capacity within a short time - if not a full arsenal of nuclear weapons. A peaceful Iran with no ambitions to export an ideology or seek regional hegemony would be no more threatening than Britain, which also has a nuclear arsenal. The real debate on Iran, therefore, can only be about regime change. The writer was Iran’s foreign minister between 1967 and 1971, when he signed the nuclear non-proliferation treaty on behalf of his country.
2004-07-01 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive