Russian Experts Believe Nuclear Iran Could Bring Stability To Middle East
RIA-Novosti - 4.6.12 - JRL 2012-65

Moscow, 6 April: An Iran in possession of nuclear weapons would strengthen stability and security in the region of the Near and Middle East, the president of the Academy of Geopolitical Problems, former head of the Russian Defence Ministry's main directorate of international military cooperation retired Col-Gen Leonid Ivashov, said on Friday (6 April) during hearings in the State Duma.

file photo"After the deprivation of monopoly on their use, nuclear weapons are the most peaceful ones. This is a deterrent factor. Therefore one cannot say that Iran will get nuclear weapons and there will be a disaster. No, and the region will be stable. It will be possible to look for other ways of cooperation," Ivashov said.

He recalled that during the Cold War, the USSR and the USA only feared sudden accidental use (of nuclear weapons).

"The latest example, India and Pakistan. When they did not have nuclear weapons, there were very many conflicts between them every year. When they came into possession (of nuclear weapons), they immediately started treating each other with restraint," the expert stressed.

Ivashov believes that the problem of Iran and the whole region lies in one side's monopoly on nuclear weapons. These are Israel, the USA, Britain and others.

In his opinion, Iran only wants to ensure safe development for itself.

"Of course, it has aspirations for some kind of leadership, a higher status in the Muslim world. But it does not want anything else, all the more so deliver strikes, all the more so nuclear ones. This is nonsense, this is the end of the state, the whole civilization," Ivashov said.

"He believes that an operation is currently under way in the whole of the Near and Middle East with the aim of - through destabilization - playing against China, Russia and Europe.

"This aim is obvious. A military build-up will start and China and Europe will be left without Middle Eastern oil, a new war will come to our borders, will lead to the destabilization of the situation in the North Caucasus, infringement on our positions on the Caspian," the expert said.

In his opinion, the destabilization of this large oil-rich region is one of the strategies of the USA, "or rather those who run it and this is by no means Obama".

Ivashov is convinced that Russia can stop this dangerous development of the situation, that is, use a range of measures, diplomatic, political, economic and military ones.

"Diplomatic... (agency's ellipsis) official representatives of the USA and Israel openly threaten international peace with the destruction of a sovereign state. We must take measures in the UN Security Council to prevent (this), by demanding the urgent convocation of an emergency meeting, where raising the question of a threat to international peace," Ivashov said.

Political measures should consist of forming a coalition.

"China has already worked with us on Syria, India also stands at the official level against the aggression. That is, putting up a coalition of those countries which do not want war," Ivashov noted.

In the economic area, one cannot take part in economic sanctions which lead to the destruction of Iran as a state without using military f