Russia's plan to sell nuclear technology to Iran looms as the make-or-break issue at this week's summit between President Clinton and Boris Yeltsin. If Clinton's fabled power of persuasion fails to stop the sale, vital American interests could suffer. Yeltsin should make a choice: the Iranian contract or a cooperative relationship with the United States.
Iran has emerged as the main threat to the security of the Middle East and access to Persian Gulf oil. Iran's rulers' undisguised hatred for everything American is matched by their enthusiasm for terrorism. Their militant program includes a plan to acquire the means to build nuclear weapons. Since Iran's oil reserves far exceed its energy needs, the deal with Russia is proof that Iran's leaders are determined to see it become a nuclear power. And though Iran is a signatory to the non-proliferation treaty, that agreement has loopholes big enough for a terrorist to drive through in a truck loaded with a nuclear bomb.
While the prospect of Iranian nuclear weapons should concern the world, the United States has special reasons to be alarmed. As the only global power, the United States must be prepared to defeat Iran's designs for hegemony in the gulf. If the day comes that Iranian aggression must be resisted, best not count on Russia (or France or Germany or Japan) for help. These countries would rather profit from trafficking with Iran in dangerous technologies that might be used against American troops. So the burden and risk are ours--and with them should go the prerogative of insisting that others limit their hazardous commerce.
Once Iran gets nuclear weapons, it may be tempted to menace its oil-rich Arab neighbors, or Israel, while the United States hesitates to intervene for fear that American forces could be exposed to nuclear attack. True, this would be reckless for Iran. But it would be no less reckless for the United States to depend on Iran to turn responsible once it has nuclear weapons. The past 15 years provide ample evidence that no nation can be less trusted with nuclear weapons than Iran.
