Iran 9-26-13

26, September 2013                   IRAN

President Hassan Rouhani of Iran is like a breath of fresh air compared to his noisy, bombastic predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. His condemnation of the Holocaust as a “crime that the Nazis committed towards the Jews” was long overdue. He is clearly walking a tightrope trying to avoid missteps that would create a backlash from Iranian and Western hardliners.  Rouhani rightly admonished Israel for its forcible possession of Palestinian ancestral land that has created so much despair and misery for its thousands of victims and torpedoed any hope of a Palestinian state.  Rouhani was also right when he stated that “no nation should possess nuclear weapons” or indeed chemical weapons. The Arms Control Association, a nonproliferation group in Washington, estimates that Israel possesses at least 100 to 200 nuclear warheads. Israel has repeatedly stated it will “not be the first country to introduce nuclear weapons in the Middle East.” Rouhani was right to call for the establishment of a nuclear free zone and reminded us that “Israel is the only nonparty to the nonproliferation treaty in this region”. Iran and Israel should stop being so coy about these weapons of mass destruction and open up their nuclear sites to I.A.E.A. inspection and safeguards. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was right when he stated “No nation should possess nuclear weapons; since there are no right hands for these wrong weapons.”