I think not only Iran but many more nations are thinking of developing nuclear weapons and it is very difficult to stop that. Particularly when USA is ready to be accommodative with selected countries like India with which it is entering into a deal, allowing continuation of weapons development sans inspection and control. The West has no moral standing in this, because of the weapons already possessed by USA, UK, France, etc. And Israel has been allowed secretly to have its own nuclear weapons though no one is willing to acknowledge that publicly. This seems to be the worst kept secret in the world.
And Iran is really not threatening any nation, though there is rhetoric flying about destruction of Israel. It is Saudi Arabia which seems to be worried about Iran having nuclear weapons and may be USA is supporting its ally. George Bush has lost credibility to stop nuclear proliferation and it is doubtful whether US's leadership will be effective. Look at North Korea.
It looks like the best option is to allow Iran to proceed with controls in place monitored by UN. May be the existing members of the Nuclear Club could get togther under the auspices of UN to work out ways to reduce and eliminate the stockpile already in place, so they will have the moral authority to stop any new country from developing nuclear weapons.
But the reality is that if any country wants to go nuclear and has the finances and resources availble, very little can be done to prevent it, short of invading that country, but Iraq has proved that it can't work either. A bitter pill to swallow but the world is too big and the divisions are too entrenched to be controlled by any one group.
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While I agree with the premise of your argument re: the inevitability of more and more nations aspiring to go "nuclear", the underlying intent seperates the radicals from the moderates. But there is always a way to manage this changing landscape. Take S. Africa for example. Millions of dollars pumped into developing a nuclear program (with assistance from the French of course) was abandoned overnite and sensibility prevailed. Similarly a little bit of arm twisting settled Libya very quickly. In any case, using nuclear capability as a barganing chip to extract "deals" from the concerned citizens of the world (like North Korea frequently does) is not okay. Someone has to have the backbone to stand up and say NO. Why is China allowed to fly under the radar when it comes to all controversial world issues? Just because they are now the factory of the world, one cannot ignore the fact that their factories churn out the wepons and technologies used my most warring factions. N. Korea is a concern to them not because of a handful of nuclear warheads they claim to possess... it is the flood of refugees into NE China that they are most worried about. That's the reason they have the cartoon character in NK propped up to keep a tight control over the poor North Koreans. US has made a few tactical mistakes no doubt in dealing with the current world issues, but it has always been called upon to take the moral responsibility of anything significant that happens in this wonderful world that we live in. Unfortunately the UN has been reduced to nothing but a group of bumbling idiots in suits who aim to put and push their personal agenda before everything else. Any world event that changes the US economy will have a ripple effect throughout the world and create chaos and that is a fact. Dammed if you do and dammed if you don't....
The USA is largely responsible for the present chaos in different parts of the world. It had supported dictators and despots in the past just to promote its business interests and safeguard its oil deliveries. It was the biggest arms-merchant for a long time. It just has no moral standing to take over the policing role in the Nuclear issue. It bends its rules as necessary so it can always rake in revenues, witness its support of Pakistan and the present deal with India. It cannot have different rules for different countries at different times. To regain the moral high ground all overt and covert members of the Nuclear Club should renounce their weaponry and then they can impose a ban on such weapons production by any country in the world and have UN police the ban and support it.
USA has had no guts to stand up to China on many issues because it had a eye on business development and the market there.
The USA has always made strategic plans but its tactics have not always been victorious. The result is division in the world. The time for USA to dominate the economic landscape is also coming to an end. No doubt the transition will be difficult but there are others to take up the slack and the world will get on with its living. Only thing is it may be more peaceful and benefit more ordinary citizens all over the world.
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