Nuclear Weapons Free Middle East – A Lost Idea? American intransigence in the way of a settlement over the Iran nuclear dossier since early 2000 kept the nuclear pot boiling in the Middle East. With a war cloud hovering over the region due to Israel-Iran tension, Kamal Kharrazi, an adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had last year declared that Iran can produce nuclear weapons and is prepared to change its policies on using them if faced with an existential threat. This raised a vital question – Is the possibility of establishing a nuclear weapons-free zone in the Middle East now effectively over? Egypt first mooted the idea in 1990. In a conversation with this journalist, Iranian nuclear negotiator Ambassador Seyed Hossein Mousavian, who served on Iran’s nuclear diplomacy team in negotiations with IAEA, opened up on a WMD-free Middle East with Israel as a party. Mousavian wants broad negotiations on the nuclear issue as well as the dangerous confrontations now occurring across the Middle East.
An improvement in Iran-Saudi Arabia relations has created a window of opportunity for the U.S. to support a comprehensive deal between the eight countries around the Persian Gulf region to establish a system of collective security and cooperation, he says. Besides, the Iranian nuclear diplomat believes, that by pressing Israel to implement the UN resolutions calling for a two-state solution in Palestine, President Trump could bring an end to the eight decades-old Palestinian crisis and realise the UN resolution on nuclear weapons-free Middle East too.
But without Israel giving up its nukes, can a WMD-free Middle East ever become a reality? Israelis have consistently maintained that the hate towards Israel and Jews in general is deeply rooted in the region’s psyche and is religiously motivated. This insecurity will come in the way of Israel relinquishing its nuclear weapons even when an independent Palestine is achieved. Mousavian also welcomed any Indian engagement to de-escalate Iran-West tension in the context of New Delhi nudging Tehran to favour dialogue over confrontations and helping them to get out of the FATF blacklist.
