Iran - Going Nuclear . Interview with Paul Kenyon: Searching for Secrets | PBS

From an interview with BBC journalist, Paul Kenyon, who got access to a UN inspection team and high ranking officials inside Iran. Some interesting subtleties about this issue surface in the interview, not least of which is the fact that the US signed a Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty with Iran and many other countries to define the parameters of the international peaceful nuclear technology game and then changed the rules at will. Part of the treaty was an agreement that advanced countries should aid the less advanced in their goals of nuclear power and research. The US changed the rules first, not Iran, which led Iran to seek other means to build technology for nuclear power and keep their progress secret. The US recently discovered what Iran has been up to for the past 18 years, has accused them of building or planning to build nuclear weapons, and now there's a race to heal the differences by diplomacy rather than violence. No points for guessing who the aggressor would be; the Bush administration has already publicly bullied, accused and disrespected Iran around this issue while the leaders of Britain, France and Germany are trying to bring everyone to the table for diplomatic talks.

On the specific issue of whether the BBC journalist thinks Iran has nuclear weapons:

Do I think Iran actually has weapons? There is no smoking gun; there's no evidence that Iran has nuclear weapons. But there's obviously a pattern of behavior which has led to suspicion. It's a fact that they deceived the world for 18 years. They say they did it because of U.S. sanctions on Iran, which is a reasonably plausible explanation. Of course, the Americans say that if Iran had been open and asked for help, they might have helped. That seems unlikely to me. In any case, Iran's bottom line is that they will not abandon their nuclear program. They've spent millions and millions on it; they have vast natural deposits of natural uranium; and they want to be an exporter of nuclear fuel. They feel that they're abiding by the law and that there's a double standard for them. The Europeans persuaded the Iranians to suspend their enrichment program. But there was still a fundamental difference of opinion: the Europeans want it to be a 'permanent suspension'-- in other words, a cessation -- and Iran will not abandon its program. Naseri has made that clear.

The recurring theme appears yet again: the Bush administration's decision to solve foreign relations by force rather than diplomacy creates a scenario akin to an unstoppable force running up against an immovable object. The US and the Muslim world of the Middle East are well-matched, it seems.