Browsing by Subject "Nuclear weapons--Iran."

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2

Open Access
Iran's nuclear weapons development program : an assessment of the threat posed to its neighbors
(2001) Yurtsever, Himmet
Throughout its long history, Iran has always sought to be a world power. Regardless of its regime and ideology, it has pursued an ambitious policy despite its actual weakness. In order to accomplish its perpetual goal, Iran has searched the necessary political and military means. Since late 1950s, Iranian leadership has believed that nuclear weapons have been the best appropriate means for this purpose. Thus, Tehran worked on every way to obtain nuclear technology, sometimes clandestinely, that will provide it with the option of developing and deploying a nuclear weapons capability which will give the ability to project power to its periphery. By the time, Iran acquired a considerable experience regarding to nuclear technology particularly with the help of Russia and China, even though it couldn't succeed to build its planned nuclear power plants yet. Notwithstanding its membership to the nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty, with its ongoing determined efforts, Iran seems to have nuclear weapons in the near future. Besides attempts to acquire nuclear infrastructure and scientific knowledge Iran has also embarked on a ballistic missile development program. Having the assistance of Russia, China, and North Korea, Iran obtained its indigenous ballistic missile production capability. Should Iran become a nuclear weapon power with its IRBMs or ICBMs as delivery means, it will alter the balance of power in the region and affect negatively the Gulf, the Middle East, the Caucasus, Central Asia, the Mediterranean, Asia the Minor, and extra regional states such as the US and Britain.
Open Access
The super power versus a regional power : a game theoretical approach to the current nuclear tension between the US and Iran
(2009) Aydın, Sabri
This thesis investigates how the nuclear tension between Iran and the US is likely to result. Game theoretical analyses are applied in order to develop the argument of this study. First, the reason why states pursue nuclear weapons and the factors that push Iran to go nuclear are analyzed. Second, the mutual threat perceptions between the US and Iran are analyzed and the effect of such perceptions on Iran’s nuclear venture is investigated. Third, three US policy options, namely diplomacy, military operation and stimulating a regime change, are elaborated. Fourth, the interaction between the US and Iran is analyzed by using two different forms of games, complete and incomplete information, and two different methods, backwards induction and Bayes’s theorem. It is concluded that Iran’s nuclear pursuit is mostly security based and the nuclear tension between Iran and the US creates a vicious circle. While Iran is going for nuclear weapons primarily to protect itself from the external threats, the US challenge to Iran’s nuclear pursuit poses a security threat to Iran and makes Iranians much more eager to develop their own nuclear weapon capability.