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Nuclear Weapons Letter Sparks Furor in Iran

A letter being circulated in the Iranian press this week, dating from the late 1980s, which noted that in order to win the Iran-Iraq War the Islamic Republic of Iran would have to employ ?lasers and nuclear weapons?, has caused a firestorm of controversy as European powers possibly begin to get the impression that nothing short of U.N. Security Council action will persuade Teheran to give up its pursuit of nuclear technology and uranium enrichment. After some Iranian news agencies broke the story, the government attempted to quash language mentioning nuclear weapons.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has stated publicly, despite his assertions that Israel should be burned off the face of the Earth, that Iran?s pursuit of nuclear technology is a peaceful endeavor. The current Supreme Ayatollah, the highest legal and religious authority in the Islamic Republic, has said that nuclear weapons are against Islam, and not needed by Iran. However, the letter in question was circulated by the Supreme Ayatollah Khomeni, who helped to found the current regime following the Islamic Revolution of the late 1970s. The letter reflected the fear that without extreme measures, the war with Iraq would continue indefinitely.

The United States deferred to the European Union in the handling of direct negotiations with Teheran, but European diplomats have noted with frustration Iran?s intransigence and stalling tactics. Russia and China have been opposed from the start of the diplomatic process to sanctions on their economic and military allies in Iran, but U.S. and European officials might be able to convince Moscow and Beijing to support certain types of sanctions in exchange for cushy economic agreements with the West.