1. UNENDING RACE FOR NUCLEAR WEAPONS AND THE
NEW IAEA REPORT
Keshav Prasad Bhattarai
When the World War II ended with the dropping of Atomic bomb - James Agee - in TIME
magazine on August 20,1945 - made a historical comment that “. . . in the echoes of an enormous
event – an event so much more enormous that, relative to it, the war itself shrank to minor
significance.”
The greatest path breaking event in the history of war was based on the discovery of German
physicist Otto Hahn, who in 1938 claimed that - vast amount of energy, could be released at no
time, if the atoms of uranium or plutonium could be split in a chain reaction. He also concluded
that if such energy is used in a weapon it could be much more powerful than the most powerful
conventional weapon. But it was not Germany but the team U.S. scientist led by Robert
Oppenheimer of the German origin - working under a clandestine Manhattan Project headed by
Brigadier General Leslie Groves - that successfully test fired the world‟ first nuclear weapon in
the desert of New Mexico in July 16,1945. This was immediately followed by the nuclear attack in
Hiroshima and Nagasaki only next month brought the World War II to an end.
When Denmark was occupied by Nazi forces, Niel Bohr- a Danish Noble Laureate in Physics
(1922), had escaped to Britain and from there to USA and was associated with Manhattan
Project. He earlier had personally urged U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt and British Prime
Minister Winston Churchill to prepare for the atomic weapon.
But on July 3, 1944 - in a memorandum to President Roosevelt, Bohr appealed “that a weapon of an
unparalleled power is being created which will completely change all future conditions of warfare”.
Referring to Bohr the author of a globally acclaimed book – “The Making of the Atom Bomb” Richard
Rhodes mentions that “When nuclear weapons spread to other countries as they certainly would, no one
would be able any longer to win. That would obviously “bring an enormous change in the situation of the
world, in the whole situation of war and the tolerability of war”.
Therefore, Bohr argued that unless, some agreement about the control of the use of the nuclear power is
reached “any temporary advantage, however great, may be outweighed by a perpetual menace to human
security”.
Similarly, in his open letter to United Nations on June 9, 1950 Bohr predicted that nuclear power in the
long run will become the enormous sources of energy that would revolutionize industry and transport, but if
a weapon is made with this energy it will contain an unparalleled power which will completely change all
future conditions of warfare posing continued threat to world security – as a formidable means of
destruction.
And as Bohr anticipated the nuclear arms race continued and got more intense. In September 1949 USSR
attained it- followed by UK in 1952, France in 1960, China in 1964, Israel in 1969, India in 1974, Pakistan in
1984, and North Korea in 2006.

2. IAEA REPORT AND ROW OVER IRANIAN WEAPON PROGRAM
U.S. President Barrack Obama, at a press conference held at the close of the Asia-Pacific Economic
Cooperation summit in Hawaii on November 13, admitted that Russian President Medvedev, as well as China‟s
President Hu Jintao entirely agreed with him to make “sure that Iran does not weaponize nuclear power and
that we don‟t trigger a nuclear arms race in the region . . . in the interests of all of us”. Obama was making
reference to the commitments made by Russia and China on the light of the report released by
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) - the Vienna based UN body created to facilitate the peaceful
use of nuclear energy and make a regular safeguard auditing of the nuclear facilities. The UN nuclear watch
dog in its report released on November 8, has asserted that Iran has attained explosive nuclear weapons
specific ability.
Further President Obama elaborated that Iran‟s weapon capability will trigger a nuclear arms race in the
region posing a security threat to the region, U.S. and its allies world wide as well. He explicitly warned
that no options against Iran “are off the table”. Subsequently, foreign ministers of European Union
assembled in Brussels also discussed on various measures from toughened economic sanctions to military
actions against Iran.
Amidst the IAEA‟s report and speculations about possible actions against Iran, its leaders including the
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Mahmud Ahmadinejad not only rejected the
IAEA‟s report as baseless, they also threatened that Iran will firmly respond any such actions with iron
fists.
According to the official Russian news agency - RIA Novosti, (November 9, 2011) Russian Foreign Ministry
lashed out the IAEA‟s report calling it twisted with a political slant and undermining the “international
effort to defuse tensions around the Islamic Republic‟s nuclear program and hold it guilty without a cause”.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev had also said that the increasing anti-Iranian rhetoric could lead to a
catastrophe in the Middle East.
Ironically, the history of Iranian Nuclear power history dates back to the signing of an agreement between
U.S. and Iran on March 5, 1957 under the auspices of the President Dwight D. Eisenhower‟s policy of
“Atoms for Peace Program”. Two years later in 1959 following the order of Reza Shah Pahlavi, a nuclear
research center at Teharan University was established. Later in the late 1960s and in the beginning of
1970s U.S. and her allies were engaged in development of nuclear facility in Iran.
When the Islamic revolution swept Iran in 1979, Ayatollah Khomeini - claimed nuclear weapons as un-
Islamic and all the nuclear activities were suspended. But from December 1981 Iran continued its nuclear
activities and there were revelations that significant deposits of uranium ore were discovered in several
locations of Iran.
Later with the cooperation of Pakistan and North Korea it was continued even after the bombings of two of
its nuclear plants during its war with Iraq in March 1984.
WILL THE HISTORY OF AIR STRIKES AGAINST IRAQ AND SYRIA BE REPEATED WITH IRAN?
Six days earlier to the publication of IAEA report, an article written by Jackson Diehl in The Washington
Post created chilling tremors around the world when it referred to a column in one of the Israel‟s best

3. read newspaper „ Yediot Ahronot‟ by renowned journalist - Nahun Barena . According to Diehl the main
points Barena raised in his article “Atomic Pressure “was that the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu and his defense minister, Ehud Barak were determined for an attack on Iran.
According to a leading Israeli daily „Haaretz‟ Netanyahu in his recent address to „Knesset‟ - warned that if a
growing regional power like Iran continues its efforts to attain nuclear weapon capability that would
directly pose the grave threat to the security of Israel following to Middle East and the entire world as
well. Defense minister Barak did not rule out the possibility that Israel would launch a military attack on
Iran's nuclear facilities. Media sources have also reported that some Israeli ministers are favoring for
restraints and pleading for American or any other move against Iran to an Israeli one.
Probably, Netanyahu and Barak want to repeat similar surprise attack on Iranian Nuclear power plants as
their predecessors - Menachem Begin and Ezer Weizman had made in June 1981 and destroyed a French-
built “Tammuz” nuclear reactor in Iraq. This was the world‟s first air strike against a nuclear plant. Israel
had claimed that the plant - located 18 miles south of Baghdad – was designed to make nuclear weapon to
destroy Israel.
Similarly Israel had also destroyed a nearly completed Syrian nuclear reactor near al – Kibar on
September 6, 2007 - built clandestinely with North Korean assistance.
When Israel attacked Tammuz nuclear plant in Iraq, it was nearing completion and was not stored with
nuclear fuel, so carried no danger to nuclear leaks and radiation. The plant was mainly located at a place
with a small supporting facility to some distance.
But in case of Iran the case appears not so easy. They are mainly located at least in five different places –
running through a long north to south corridor extending from Caspian Sea to Persian Gulf. Iran has also
built some of its nuclear facility hidden underground in Qom – a major Shiite pilgrimage site and the
headquarters of the Iranian religious leaders running the country.
Therefore, any Iraqi model single air attack cannot help Israel achieve its goal. It needs similar kind of
surprise attacks at all locations with capacity even to destroy facility buried underground, something that
is immune from conventional air strikes.
Obviously, Iranian acquisition of atomic bombs would put pressure on other countries in the region placed in
similar position. Many Arab countries believe that it is unfair that Israel has nuclear weapons. If Arab
countries like Saudi Arabia, Egypt and possibly Syria, found them caught between a nuclear-armed Israel
and Iran, they may feel pressurized to pursue their own nuclear options which will result in an enhanced
regional arms race with all its consequences including destabilization of the whole region – vital for global
oil supply and security.
kpbnepal@gmail.com
The Reporter (Weekly) November 21-27, 2011
www.thereporter.com.np