Iran and Nuclear Weapons: Protracted Conflict and Proliferation PDF
Preview Iran and Nuclear Weapons: Protracted Conflict and Proliferation
Iran and NuclearWeapons This book investigates what is driving Iran’s nuclear weapons program in a less- hostile regional environment, using a theory of protracted conflicts to explicate proliferation. Iran’s nuclear weapons program has alarmed the international community since the 1990s, but has come to the forefront of international security concerns since 2000. This book argues that Iran’s hostility with the United States remains the major causal factor for its proliferation activities. With the US administration pur- suing aggressive foreign policies towards Iran since 2000, the latter’s security threat intensified. A society that is split on many important domestic issues remained united on the issue of nuclear weapons acquisition after the US war in Iraq. Consequently, Iran became determined in its drive to acquire nuclear weapons and boldly announced its decision to enrich uranium, leaving the US in no doubt about its nuclear status. This book underscores the importance of protracted conflicts in proliferation decisions, and underpinning this is the assumption that non-proliferation may be achieved through the termination of intractable conflicts. The aims of this work are to demonstrate that a state’s decision to acquire nuclear weapons depends largely on its engagement in protracted conflicts, which shows not only that the presence of nuclear rivals intensifies the nuclear ambition, but also that non-nuclear status of rival states can promote non-proliferation incentives in conflicting states inclined to proliferate. This study will be of great interest to students of Iran, Middle Eastern politics, nuclear proliferation and international relations theory. Saira Khan is a Research Associate at McGill-University of Montreal Joint Research Group in International Security (REGIS). Routledge global security studies Series editors: Aaron Karp, Regina Karp and Terry Teriff Nuclear Proliferation and International Security Sverre Lodgaard and Morten Bremer Maerli Global Insurgency and the Future of Armed Conflict Debating fourth-generation warfare Terry Terriff, Aaron Karp and Regina Karp Terrorism and Weapons of Mass Destruction Responding to the challenge Edited by Ian Bellany Globalization and WMD Proliferation Edited by James A. Russell and Jim J. Wirtz Power Shifts, Strategy and War Declining states and international conflict Dong Sun Lee Energy Security and Global Politics The militarization of resource management Edited by Daniel Moran and James A. Russell US Nuclear Weapons Policy After the Cold War Russians, ‘rogues’ and domestic division Nick Ritchie Security and Post-Conflict Reconstruction Dealing with fighters in the aftermath of war Edited by Robert Muggah Network Centric Warfare and Coalition Operations The new military operating system Paul T. Mitchell American Foreign Policy and the Politics of Fear Threat inflation since 9/11 Edited by A. Trevor Thrall and Jane K. Cramer Risk, Global Governance and Security The other war on terror Yee-Kuang Heng and Kenneth McDonagh Nuclear Weapons and Cooperative Security in the 21st Century The new disorder Stephen J. Cimbala Political Economy and Grand Strategy A neoclassical realist view Mark R. Brawley Iran and Nuclear Weapons Protracted conflict and proliferation Saira Khan Iran and Nuclear Weapons Protracted conflict and proliferation Saira Khan First published 2010 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2009. To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk. © 2010 Saira Khan All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. The publisher has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Khan, Saira. Iran and nuclear weapons: protracted conflict and proliferation / Saira Khan p. cm. 1. Nuclear arms control—Iran. 2. Nuclear weapons—Iran. 3. Nuclear nonproliferation—Case studies. 4. United States—Foreign relations—Iran. 5. Iran—Foreign relations—United States. I. Title. JZ5665.K49 2009 355.02'170955—dc22 2009013231 ISBN 0-203-86942-7 Master e-book ISBN ISBN10: 0–415–45307–0 (hbk) ISBN10: 0–203–86942–7 (ebk) ISBN13: 978–0–415–45307–3 (hbk) ISBN13: 978–0–203–86942–0 (ebk) To my dearest mother, Nargis Khan Contents Acknowledgments xi Introduction 1 PARTI Causes of proliferation 9 1 Factors utilized to comprehend Iran’s nuclear weapons aspiration 11 PART II Theory 25 2 Proliferation proclivities of protracted conflict states 27 PART III Case study: Iran 45 3 Iran’s nuclear ambition and twin protracted conflicts between 1947 and 1979 47 4 Iran’s nuclear program and triple protracted conflicts from 1979 onwards 63 5 The ramifications of the asymmetric Iran–US protracted conflict from 1990 to 2000 in Iran’s nuclear domain 77 6 Iran’s fast-paced proliferation activity and hostile US policy since 2000 89 Conclusion 110
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