The Triangle

Issue date: 4/17/09 Section: Ed-Op

Media Credit: Parspix/Abaca Press/MCT

We have been hearing about Iran's nuclear program for several years, and while efforts have been made by the international community, including several UN resolutions as well as sanctions, this has neither stopped nor slowed down the Iranian nuclear program. Iran has also stated that its motives for developing nuclear weapons are for "peaceful purposes" and to simply further generate electricity - but if that were true, I don't think the international community would be so alarmed.

We can conclude that since Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said several times he wants to "wipe Israel off the map," there is definitely an ulterior motive for a nuclear program. Iran has also supplied weapons to the terrorist organization Hamas in Gaza that continually and regularly attacks Israel with rockets and mortar shells.

However, in June Iran is having elections, and we should hope that Ahmadinejad does not get re-elected. His current leading opponent, Mir Hussein Moussavi, a former prime minister from 1980 to 1988, has even said that Ahmadinejad is an extremist whose policies are only "jeopardizing the country's interests." Moussavi also said that he wanted to lift the bans on private television stations as a supporter of the freedom of speech and press.

While I could not agree more with Moussavi's statements, the downside of this more moderate candidate is that he also stands by the Iranian nuclear program. Also, according to The New York Times, when asked about Ahmadinejad's heavily anti-Semitic statements, which include denying the Holocaust, Moussavi failed to make any type of comment.

Perhaps for Moussavi it is a difficult balancing act he is trying to play in order to beat Ahmadinejad and steal his supporters while also trying to restore the "international confidence" in Iran. However, this remains to be the optimistic explanation, and at this point, we should have every reason to believe that the Iranian nuclear program is not a peaceful one.

And then there is a question of the amount of faith we can have in U.S. President Barack Obama's idealistic "Yes we can" attitude. Currently, diplomacy with Iran has become the front-runner on Obama's priority list for foreign issues. If the current president of Iran is re-elected, I would say Obama's idealism, while hopeful and well-intentioned, will not be able to progress. However, if Moussavi is elected, there is a possibility. While it's not a strong possibility with a likely outcome of events in our favor, it's an actual glimmer of hope.

Continued...

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