Amir Taheri in this WSJ op-ed, "Iran Has Started a Mideast Arms Race,"  underlines the threat of a nuclear pandora's box in the Middle East  created by the lack of resolve of the West in stifling the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamanei's quest for an Iranian nuclear arsenal.  Now with the house release in Pakistan of criminal nuclear mastermind,  Dr. A.Q. Kahn, the father of the Islamic nuclear bomb,  Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Gulf emirates are bent on developing their own nuclear capabilities. Even Iraq, whose nuclear capability was taken out by an Israeli raid on the Osirak reactor in June, 1981 is vitally concerned. Note this comment in the Taheri piece by an Iraqi parliamentarian Saleh al-Mutlaq:

"A single tactical nuclear attack on Basra and Baghdad could wipe out a third of our population," a senior Iraqi official told me, on condition of anonymity. Since almost 90% of Iraqis live within 90 miles of the Iranian border, the "fear is felt in every town and village."

That does not bode well for Israel and the US, and should give rise to reconsideration of a military option against the Iranian nuclear complex by the emerging coalition government under PM-designate Netanyahu.

Note these comments from Taheri:

"There is no doubt that the current nuclear race in the Middle East is largely prompted by the fear of a revolutionary Iran using an arsenal as a means of establishing hegemony in the region. Iran's rivals for regional leadership, especially Turkey, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, are aware of the propaganda appeal of the Islamic Republic's claim of being " the first Muslim superpower" capable of defying the West and rivaling it in scientific and technological fields. In that context, Tehran's development of long-range missiles and the Muslim world's first space satellite are considered political coups.

A four-nation Arab summit held in the Saudi capital on March 11 endorsed that analysis, giving the green light for a pan-Arab quest for "a complete nuclear industry." Such a project would draw support from Pakistan, whose nuclear industry was built with Arab money. Mr. Khan and his colleagues have an opportunity to repay that debt by helping Arabs step on a ladder that could lead them to the coveted "threshold" to becoming nuclear powers in a few years' time.

The Obama administration should take the growing threat of nuclear proliferation seriously. It should try to provide leadership in forging a united response by the major powers to what could become the world's No. 1 security concern within the next few years."


Given the mindless opening to Iran being pursued Obama in his video address to Iran's mullarcracy and people on the Persian New Year, Nowuz, and the immediate categorical rejection by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamanei, you would think that would have been be a jarring wake up call in Washington.  Apparently not. The Obama Administration is intent on finding out for itself what PM designee Netanyahu and former US UN Ambassador John Bolton have known for years.  That Iran's nuclear quest has reshaped the geo-political map in the Middle East and must be addressed before the nightmare of an Islamic nuclear conflagration occurs.