IRAN AND NUCLEAR: WHERE IS THE RECIPROCITY?

Recently Donald Rumsfeld appealed to the international community to stop Iran from its run to the  nuclear weapons, defining the country as “the main supporter of the international terrorism”, and the German prime minister Angela Merkel evoked the rise of the Nazism and asked for an immediate action to stop Iran in the development of its nuclear program.
 Iran is seen as a danger for the world (perhaps to prepare the field for the next war of Bush?). A lot of words are spent about its violations of the Npt (Non proliferation of Nuclear weapons treaty, in force from the 1970),  but if we see how really the thinks are, the truth is quite different: Iran hid some nuclear plants to the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency), but then it opened them to inspections. The IAEA states that it didn't find traces of military activities, even without excluding them. It must be reminded that Npt ratifies for all the countries the right to develop civil nuclear programs, under the IAEA control, right that Teheran wants to exercise to justify its own actions.

The violations of the non proliferation of nuclear Treaty: some data

Despite the adoption of the Npt implied for the countries the obligation to dismantle its own arsenal and not to increase its own equipment and not to increase its power with new technologies, the USA admit that they have 10.500 bombs, Russia 20.000, Great Britain 185, France 450 and Cina 400. Moreover India and Pakistan, became nuclear powers after the adoption of the Npt in 1970, while Israel never admitted to dispose of nuclear arsenal. These countries never gave their adhesion to the Npt.
Moreover, since when in the last years the run to the nuclear rearmament started again: Russia is planning a third generation of atomic submarines and in 2004 made 16 experimental explosions of missiles. Great Britain is planning new nuclear bombs for its four submarines Trident (each of them with the power of 384 Hiroshima bombs) and the United States have a nuclear float consisting of 18 submarines, furthermore they are planning little bombs that can be used on the battle field and other that can penetrate deeply in the soil.  Moreover they state that the commitment of not to use the atomic bombs for first is dismissed. Recently the French president Chirac did not exclude  the use of atomic weapons against those states wishing to attack France using terrorist actions.
The Nato, moves out of the Npt agreements, violating them clearly. The USA placed bombs in several American bases in Europe: according to the last report belonging to the Natural Resources Defense Council, the American nuclear weapons in Europe are 480, placed in 8 bases in 6 countries: 150 in Germany, in Büchel, and Ramstein; 20 in Belgium, in Kleine Brogel; 20 in Holland , in Volkel; 110 in Great Britain, in Lakenheath; 90 in Italy, in Aviano e Ghedi Torre; 90 in Turkey, in Incirlik.
In 4 bases (in Germany, Greece and Turkey) weapons are dismissed, but could be placed again if necessary. The bombs are assigned to the host countries and their launch is due to the national air forces. Despite the reductions occurred in the '90s, world wide there are 30.000 nuclear bombs, they are enough to destroy it 25 times.

In the world there are 400 nuclear reactors in 20 countries, potentially they can provide the nuclear fuel needed to build an atomic bomb.
In comparison to these tremendous data, the danger represented by the Irani military program, about which there aren't certain evidence, appears ridiculous. We are in front of the usual hypocrite American arrogance, behind which some European countries as Great Britain, France, Germany are arranged. Despite this, the negotiations with Iran are committed even if they violate the Ntp. As for the mass destruction weapon (never found in Iraq, but used to justify the war), that  are owned by USA in a huge arsenal, they move following a logic that denies the reciprocity and applies to other countries some prohibitions that are not valid for them self  or for their allies. So the USA, Israel and other countries can increase their nuclear arsenal, Iran can't.

The only solution, the disarming

To this logic, we can answer only going in the opposite direction, with the goal to reach the global disarming and to eliminate the bombs and the nuclear arsenal.
Intermediate steps can be:

• restart the negotiations to banish weapons and nuclear experiments
• update the Npt to banish the enriched uranium and the plutonium,  two of the most important nuclear “fuel” for the atomic weapons
• pressures to countries as India, Pakistan and Israel to admit the treaty
• the creation of a free zone from the nuclear weapons in the Middle East, that must be added to the several existing free zones  (South America, South Pacific, South-east Asia, Africa, Central Asia, Antarctic).
• The definition of a disarming plan, with deadlines for the dismantle and programs to verify and to control the process, with the obligation for the nuclear powers to respect it and giving to ONU the responsibility to control the respect of the treaty.

Commission Peace and Non violence
February 2006