Iran Seeks the 'Japan' Option

A fairly convincing argument related to the facts surrounding Iran's nuclear experimentation. Summary given by "The Slatest" below:

It's possible that Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was insincere when he forbade atomic weapons as un-Islamic. Khamenei's fatwa is just one of the many seemingly contradictory pieces of the Iranian nuclear puzzle: Tehran vehemently denies that it's building a nuclear weapon, while the United States, Israel, and others point to previously hidden facilities as evidence Iran is lying. Salon commentator Juan Cole says a single hypothesis "explains all the anomalies elegantly and concisely." Iran seeks nuclear latency, also known as the "Japan option," Cole argues. That is, Iran (like Japan) doesn't want the bomb, but just the threat of being able to build one quickly. The strategy secures energy independence, "would help fend off aggressive attempts at regime change by the Western powers or Israel," and, "conveniently for Khamanei," violates neither Islamic law nor the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Moreover, it lets Mahmoud Ahmadinejad deny he's building a bomb without technically lying.


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