A couple of critics of my recent posting (29
September) on the Iranian nuclear weapon programme commented that I had failed
to notice the already existing substantial arsenal possessed by Israel. There are a number of observations that might
be made about this criticism and the most obvious of these is that they
represent the classic ‘change the subject’ move. The fact that Israel has a substantial
nuclear arsenal, and has had such weapons for nearly fifty years, is quite
beside the point.
Iran is not saying that it ought to be allowed
to develop nuclear weapons because another party in the region has such
weapons. It is saying that it has no nuclear weapon programme and that
its present nuclear activities are entirely peaceful.
