Opinion articles do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Raider Times staff nor its advisor.

The conflict between Israel and the Islamic Republic of Iran extends to when Islamic rule took over in Iran. Often criticized as one of the most volatile leaders in the world, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the President and often-called “spokesperson” of the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in Iran has a strongly anti-Semitic view on Israel. Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, is often criticized by people of his own country and those of other countries affected by the possibility of a war with Iran.

With the fear of Iran developing nuclear weapons being prevalent in Israel, as Iran has stated that they seek to destroy Israel, Israel, in recent times, has been opting for a preemptive strike on Iran to prevent the development of nuclear weapons; however, such an attack is not so simple. China and Russia having both signed treaties with Iran and funding the Iranian military could provoke unwanted involvement in a war with Iran if Israel attacks, possibly leading to a third world war, potentially nuclear in nature.

The USA currently sees itself as an ally to Israel and would be forced into supporting Israel in the event of a war with Iran under our current administration. Contrary to the majority of the public’s desire, the likelihood of the USA not being involved in such a war is slim. If Iran continues to pursue development of nuclear weapons, every day brings more and more possibility for an attack from Israel. This feud has been going on for a very long time, often repeating itself, but in this last year it seems as though an attack will occur soon if it ever does happen. The attack, of course, being a preemptive military operation on Iranian soil, committed by Israel.

Criticism arises from a few devious issues with Israel and the lack of evidence that Iran is attempting to arm itself with nuclear weapons. First of all, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) is a treaty created to prevent the development of nuclear weapons and promote the development of nuclear energy, and signers of the treaty are to be aided in construction of safe nuclear energy in their agreement to not use nuclear weapons. Iran has signed the NPT, whether or not they will choose to actually follow the NPT is a mystery; however, Israel has not signed the NPT.

Israel does have nuclear weapons. The existence of nuclear weapons in Israel is kind of a “public secret” in the effect that government neither denies nor admits they have nuclear weapons, despite the fact that it is common knowledge that they have them. This is an effort to not have to sign the NPT, so that in the event of war, Israel can (and will) use nuclear weapons.

So in the face of all that, one could argue that Iran, despite its world view and blatant violations of human rights (something Israel is guilty of too), is simply trying to produce nuclear resources under the NPT with no intention of becoming a nuclear armed nation, and that Israel is perhaps being the aggressor. As well, it is more likely that Iran is trying to produce nuclear weapons in disregard to the NPT. No one wants a volatile nation like Iran to have nuclear weapons but the preventative measures can easily be criticized as everyone loses, no one wants to wait for Iran to strike, but no one wants another war. Only time will tell how this situation will pan out.