Published November 2nd, 2009 by Future Atlas
Iranian Opposition Pro-Nuke?
Getting rid of Ahmadinejad or the current regime may not greatly change the trajectory of Iran’s nuclear program, as some seem to assume.
As Iran vacillates — or appears to — on the uranium stockpile deal, the opposition is accusing Ahmadinejad of giving away too much to the West.
The WaPo reports that
The strongest criticism has come from Mir Hossein Mousavi, the leading opposition presidential candidate in Iran’s June 12 election. Even though the two-term government of his political partner, former president Mohammad Khatami, tried several times to reach a compromise with the West over Iran’s nuclear program, Mousavi charged that the current proposal would lead to disaster. “The discussions in Geneva were really surprising, and if the promises given [to the West] are realized, then the hard work of thousands of scientists would be ruined.”
Iran’s approach to security is not just about Ahmadinejad, nor about “extremism.” It has structural drivers as well, and those will not change rapidly.
kurt9 Says
The legacy media is being delusional about this because they want to believe that the opposition in Iran is “pro-Western” when, in fact, it is not.
It is well-known from more knowledgeable sources that Mousavi and his opposition are even more “pro-nuke” than Ahmadinejade and his crowd. Indeed, the biggest complaint that Mousavi has had with Ahmadinejade is the latter’s attracting attention to the nuclear program by shooting off his mouth every 5 minutes. They want Admadinejade to shut his mouth so as not to attract attention to their nuclear program (both energy and weapons).
The Mousavi opposition is certainly not “pro-western”. Rather, they are Persian nationalists and want Persia to be a “great” nation, with the implication that “great” nations are nuclear armed.
Also, consider that the Shah had both a commercial nuclear power program as well as a nuclear weapons program underway when he was overthrown.
Nov 3rd, 2009 at 9:11 pm