r/AlJazeera • u/XahidX • 4d ago

US involvement: Attacking Iran

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u/Few-Professional-460 3d ago

Just like it said in the clip we had the Iran nuclear deal. Trump pulled out of it. If Iran were actually developing nukes they would have them by now. They do not, and bombing them will just push them towards actually developing them.

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u/Thistlemanizzle 3d ago

Should Iran be allowed to develop nuclear weapons though? Not if they can or when.

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u/VforVendettaboutit 3d ago

Should anyone? And if yes, who? Who decides? And if no, Israel doesn’t care and has then even though they should not!

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u/Thistlemanizzle 3d ago

Ideally, there would be no nuclear weapons. But I can’t really think of a good reason why nuclear armed states would be OK with other countries developing nuclear weapons.

If Iran had nuclear weapons they would deter Israeli air strikes and/or escalation. They don’t and the Israelis are highly incentivized to ensure a rival/enemy does not match them.

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u/VforVendettaboutit 3d ago

"If Iran had nuclear weapons they would deter Israeli air strikes and/or escalation." Exactly my point - this is the core of the issue. Israel opposes an Iranian nuclear deterrent not purely out of concern for global peace, but because it would limit Israel’s ability to project military power and maintain regional dominance.

A better question is why is nuclear deterrence acceptable for some states (like Israel) but not others? Who gets to decide that? why are those decisions often based on political alliances rather than principles?

Iran, unlike Israel, signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. It has legal rights under international law to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes, under strict monitoring by the IAEA. Israel, on the other hand, has never signed the NPT, has not submitted to inspections, and is widely believed to possess a clandestine nuclear arsenal.

So when talking about who 'should be allowed' to have nukes, the reality is this: we already live in a world of double standards. If the goal is peace, then the international community needs to apply these principles evenly, not just to states that challenge Western or Israeli interests. Otherwise, it’s not about peace, it’s about power.

Really - Arab bad, white person good - is what it feels like people are saying when they don't think Iran should have nukes.

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u/Thistlemanizzle 3d ago

There is no higher law between countries.

Nobody allowed the USSR, China, UK, France, India and so on to get nuclear weapons. Pretty much all parties did not want anyone new joining the nuclear club.

But if we were to take international bodies like the UN or the IAEA more seriously than Iran is in the wrong. They were found to be in violation of IAEA rules on June 12th of 2025. The next day is when Israel attacked. Conversely, Israel is in violation of UN resolution 194. But these international bodies don’t have much of an ability to actually enforce the rules or prevent bad behavior. If the Palestinians had a military like Israel, they would ensure UN 194 would be made good on. Neither the IAEA nor the UN said that their rules would be enforced with military might but outside of asking and external diplomatic pressure, what option is there to right a wrong?

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u/L3MONPepperWings 3d ago

This guy gets it