The objective of this essay will be the test scenario of Iran testing a nuclear device in 2021. This essay will be based on the United States’ strategy of applying instruments of power in an integrated manner in order to effective address the increasing security challenged that is posed by the Iranian nuclear test. The essay will answer the questions by applying one of the international relations models in order to establish recommendations and justification.
BACKGROUND
Iran has been developing a nuclear program since the Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi was in power in the late 1970s.The Iranian nuclear test and the capacity of delivering a missile overseas cause Iran to be perceived as a greater threat than it has ever been in history to American security interests. In addition, the explosion of an Iranian nuclear test device is damaging to the position of the moderates in Iran. There is no real menace of an overt nuclear attack with regard to the United States or any of itsinterests in the region. Any attack that would be initiated by Iran would provoke a substantial retaliation. Iran has assisted Hezbollah for decades.
The Iranians have little likelihood of using a nuclear device or giving one of their beneficiaries access to their proprietary nuclear technology. The religious dictators that administrate Iran comprehend that the explosion of a nuclear device provides them with deterrence and power. It has been four decades since the ShahofIranwas compelled to step down. AnIranian nuclear tests explosion serves as a foreign policy implement that is directed toward the preservation of their regime. The threat is that the Iranian nuclear test can initiate a number of other regimes to pursue the use of acquiring nuclear weapons. The testing of the Iranian nuclear device is the outcome of the failed policies of the non-proliferation treaty. The theocracy in Iran only has the interest of disseminating theocratic regimes throughout the world.The question that will be explored is why were not greater efforts put forth by the world community in order to deter the use of an Iranian test device?
The United States in currently in its fifth year of the Clinton presidency. The perspectives that had been applied in the past provided little success. The most effective perspective that had been perceived was not found in realism, it was found in liberalism. The UnitedStates military budget has been 800% greater than the comprehensive military spending that have been incurred by the Chinese and Russians. In addition, the United States military budget is 2500% greater than the combined military budgets of North Korea Iran, Syria Libya and Sudan.
The liberalist perceptive is the best approach to a nuclear Iran in 2021. Liberalism incorporates institutions, groups and individuals. The objective of the liberal international relations is practical with regard to the Iraniannuclear tests. Liberalism is directed toward economic health and liberty. The foundation of liberalism in international relations is the creation of institutions, groups, cultural exchanges and knowledge formation. The values of constructing a global community, increasing the spread of democracy and the advocacy of human rights are found with the international relations perspective of liberalism.
Considering that the Iranian nuclear menace is a reality, then the re policies that applied realism in the past are a failure. First there was the Iran Sanctions Act of 1996. This was followed by the Iran Refined Petroleum SanctionsAct of 2009. These policies have proven that the realism approach is a failure. Iran’s nuclear manufacturing perspective is similar to an Iranian attempt to fabricate a Honda Accord in Iran at an expense of $150,000 when the Honda Accord could have been procured in Japan at a cost of $15,000.
The best recommendation in international relations that should be exercised toward Iran are the dime model. The dome model is an acronym for diplomacy, informatics, military and economic. This is the best approach to deterring any further ambitions that Iran may have of developing a nuclear missile program. Iran has become an international global actor as a result of its ability to produce and refine petroleum. This is why the use of Smart power that incorporates the power of attraction should be applied. Organizations should be encouraged to open branches in Iran. The largest export of the United States is its culture. In the event that the Iranians could gain sufficient exposure to more U.S. culture and U.S. products, this may cause them to perceive the futility of engaging in a nuclear weapons program. The Iranian nuclear weapons program is an outcome of the Machiavellian policies of realism.
The United States’ instruments of power should be applied in a manner that entails the application of smart power. This infers that if the policies of the past forty years were not successful, why not attempt a liberal approach with regard to international relations with Iran? These are the justifications for the recommendation.As the sanctions were being applied over the past thirty years to the Iranian economy, Iran has evolved into being a global actor.Iran and China have formed a strategic alliance. China has facilitated the transfer of military technology to Iran. Iran may be in possession of ground laser technology. In addition, Iran has been in possession of nuclear reactor technology for the past thirty years. These developments and the emergence of Iran as a global actor have caused the liberal international perspective to be the most effective instrument of power that can be exercised by the United States.
The characteristic that causes Iran to be a global actor is its ability to produce and refine oil. In the event that a realist approach were exercised, the Persian Gulf could become destabilized and the price of oil would rise. A military intervention in Iran could cause the prices of oil to increase substantially. Oil can cause major global conflicts. All nations need dependable accessibility to oil in order for their economies to flourish. At the same time Iran may have requisites as an oil producing nation that can be fulfilled by other nations in the world. As a result, there has been a trade agreement between China and Iran. There have also been trade agreements between North Korea and Venezuela. Iran has built a Peace Pipeline that extends through Pakistan that was completed in 2018. In addition, Iran has evolved into the third greatest oil exporter to the European Union.
The most effective approach with regards to applying the economic capacity of the United States toward diffusing the desire for the Iranians to develop further nuclear technology is to apply an international relations perspective that is completely in the opposite direction of the failed international relations policies of the 1990s and 2000s.
The United States must not involve itself in the rhetoric that takes place between Israel and Iran. Iran will not attack Israel. Israel will not attack Iran.The role that the United States should have taken from the 2000s is to have become trading partner with Iran. This was the initial mistake. The United States should have been the nation that ensured that Iran received the uranium that is required in order to provide fuel for its nuclear reactor at Bushehr. Russia has been the nation that has taken this role. If the United States would have fulfilled this role and not paid heed to the rhetoric exercised by Israeltoward Iran and Iran toward Israel, the nuclear ambitions that are being exercised by Iran may have been decelerated. Iran should not have been ostracized in 2005 for being the only nation that did not concur with the nuclear proliferation treaty.
Conclusion
The United States should have become a trading partner with Iran from the installation of the Iranian theocratic regime. Although Iran is rich in resources, they are deficient in many items. This perspective would have caused a cultural interchange that might have slowed the production of the first Iranian nuclear test. As a result of the sanctions and the realist policies imposed by the United States over the past forty years, other global actors have been able to enter the scenario of trading with Iran. The realist policies have failed and have resulted in the first Iranian nuclear test.
Bibliography
Alvandi, Roham.Nixon, Kissinger and the Shah: The United States and Iran in the Cold War. New York: Oxford University Press, 2014.
Deeb,Marius. Syria, Iran and Hezbollah: The unholy alliance and its war on Lebanon. Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution, 2011.
Gutgold,Nichola. Almost Madame President: Why Hillary won in 2008. Plymouth, UK: Lexington Books, 2009.
Hunter, Shireen. Iran’s foreign policy in the Post / Soviet era: Resisting the New International order. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC CLIO, 2010.
National SecurityDecision Making Simulation: Instruments ofPower, (MaxwellAFB, AL: Air Command and StaffCollege Distance Learning Department, October2012),1-66.
Rawshadil, Jalil.Iran, Israel and the United States: Regime security vs. political legitimacy. SantaBarbara, CA: ABC CLIO, 2011.
Thaler, David, Alizera Nader, Shahram Chubin, Jerrold Green and Charlotte Lynch, Mullahs,guards and bonyads: An exploration of Iranian Leadership. Santa Monica, CA: Rand Corporation, 2010.
Troxell, John F. “MilitaryPower and theUseof Force,”in USArmyWar CollegeGuideto National Security Issues, Volume I: Theory ofWar and Strategy, 5th ed., ed. J. Boone Bartholomees, Jr., (US ArmyWar College: June2012),217-241.
World Summary, National Security Decision Making Capstone Challenge 2021, (MaxwellAFB, AL: Air Command and StaffCollege Distance Learning Department, 2011), 1-68.
