Iran at the Strategic Crossroads

Abstract

As the Bush administration energetically addresses the issue of nuclear proliferation in the Middle East, Iran has suddenly emerged as one of Washington’s foremost concerns. Over the years, many Western analysts have assumed Iran’s nuclear program was largely limited to the Bushehr installation near the Persian Gulf that operates under the oversight of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The ostensible purpose of this installation is to provide Iran with an alternative source of energy to gas and oil. Western concerns were not so much that Bushehr would produce a nuclear bomb, but that under the cover of a civilian research program Iran was gathering sufficient knowledge and expertise to achieve a nuclear weapons capacity.