Originally Posted by Ethersync

Sanctions are an act of war.

Keep in mind that the CIA has said there is no proof that Iran is building a nuclear weapon. Iran has also signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. It's worth mentioning that Pakistan, India and Israel refuse to.

But let's say Iran does build a bomb. There is no chance they would use it against Israel. Israel has over 300 and would turn the country into glass. Also, Israel is well within their rights to take military action against Iran on their own to prevent it.

If Iran does intend to build a nuclear bomb I think the reason is obvious. They want want to be treated with respect. They were our bitch for a long time and it took the Iranian revolution for them to take control of their own country. They tried democracy and we overthrew their democratically elected leader and re-installed a brutal dictator. If they had nuclear weapons we would be forced to treat them with more respect.

Also, there is a huge youth population in Iran right now. This is a result of the Mullahs telling everyone to have a bunch of kids after the Iranian revolution. These young people want to westernize. In fact Iran is already more western than any other country in the region. I personally think a good immediate first step would be to remove trade sanctions with Iran under the condition that they agree to not pursue the development of nuclear weapons. I think they would quickly become a strong alley in the region.

It's also worth noting that ALL of our intelligence for our operations in Afghanistan after 9/11 came from Iran. We would have been fucked without their help. The Taliban is an enemy we both share. As a thank you to them for helping us Bush added them to his "Axis of Evil". This stopped the "pro-west" reform government that was in power in Iran in their tracks and led to the current whacko that is in power now. The Mullahs were experimenting with strengthening ties with us after 9/11. In fact 1 million Iranians had a candlelight vigil in Tehran supporting us after we were attacked on 9/11.