OPEC Nations, Nuclear Weapons, and Economic Sanctions on Iran

Introduction: Sanctions in the OPEC World

What sorts of sanctions and punishments should an OPEC nation — whose petroleum production brings riches almost beyond imagination, and which is therefore a major player on the world's economic battleground — receive if it launches programs aimed at acquiring nuclear weapons? That is the central question this paper reviews and critiques. The best example of what would happen to an OPEC nation that works toward building a nuclear weapon can be found by examining what has happened to Iran and its nuclear program. This paper delves into the sanctions against Iran and reports the political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal consequences of those sanctions. It also projects what those painful economic and social realities would impose on other oil-producing nations planning a nuclear program.

OPEC, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, is a powerful intergovernmental body whose member states collectively control a substantial share of the world's oil supply. When one of its members pursues nuclear weapons development, the geopolitical stakes become exceptionally high, as the Iran case illustrates. This narrative leads to a clear understanding of the question at hand.

Sanctions on Venezuela and Nuclear Weapons Destructive Power

Sanctions on Venezuela

It should be noted at the outset that Iran is not the only OPEC nation that has had economic sanctions placed on it by the United States. President Barack Obama issued an Executive Order on March 9, 2015, proclaiming that Venezuela had "been involved in actions or policies that undermine democratic processes," and that Venezuela had abused "human rights, including against persons involved in antigovernment protests" (White House, 2015).

There had also been a "persecution of political opponents" and a "curtailment of press freedoms" in Venezuela, Obama asserted. As a result, "illicit financial flows" of money from "corrupt officials" in Venezuela were blocked through economic sanctions, enabling the U.S. to freeze assets and deny or revoke visas of Venezuelan officials.

Nuclear Weapons: A Look at Potential Destruction

To understand why Western-oriented nations shudder at the thought of a country like Iran possessing a nuclear weapon, a brief look at the destructive power of these weapons provides useful context. The bomb that killed an estimated 92,000 people in Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945, had an explosive force equivalent to 12,500 tons of dynamite. By contrast, a 1-megaton hydrogen bomb detonated today would deliver "about 80 times the blast power" of the Hiroshima bomb (PBS).

At 1.7 miles from the blast of a 1-megaton hydrogen bomb, a crater 200 feet deep and 1,000 feet wide would be created; the soil would be "highly radioactive," and most buildings and humans would be gone. At 2.7 miles from such a blast, "virtually everything is destroyed," including apartment buildings and multi-story structures that are "completely blown out" (PBS). Additionally, 50% of the population living within 2.7 miles would die. At 4.7 miles, windows of office buildings are blown out and the contents of upper floors — "including the people who were working there, are scattered on the street" (PBS). At 7.4 miles, one quarter of the population is severely injured, radiation permeates the area, and "flying glass and debris" causes severe damage (PBS).

Sovereign States with Nuclear Weapons Today

There are eight sovereign states that currently possess nuclear weapons, five of which are party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Those five, in order of their development or acquisition, are: the United States, Russia (successor to the Soviet Union), the United Kingdom, France, and China. Three states not party to the Treaty are also known to possess nuclear weapons: India, Pakistan, and North Korea. Israel is widely believed to have nuclear weapons, though there remains considerable ambiguity on the matter.

Iran as an OPEC Nation Seeking Nuclear Weapons

"Iran has long been one of the most important and dangerous sponsors of terrorism in the world … [and] its support for terrorism has become more aggressive in recent years, motivated by a mix of fear and opportunism. It could become even more aggressive in the years to come, exploiting the perceived protection it would gain if it developed a nuclear weapon or, if thwarted through military force or other means, using terrorists to vent its anger and take revenge" (Byman, 2012).

When a nation like Iran is recognized as a strong supporter of terrorism — identified as spending millions of dollars funding terror and making specific threats against the West — and when it is located in the volatile, violent Middle East, it must be confronted with punishments and sanctions. In the case of Iran, the Western world has done far more than merely frown upon the possibility of Iran acquiring nuclear weapons. The pushback against Iran gaining access to nuclear weapons has called for strict sanctions, some of which have been in place since the 1979 hostage crisis and Islamic revolution.

Before presenting the historical overview of sanctions on Iran's nuclear program, it is useful to examine Iran's sponsorship of terrorism more closely. Two serious considerations arise. First, since Iran has shown allegiance to groups like Hamas — the dominant political force in the Palestinian territories that relies on terrorist tactics — there are legitimate fears that those terrorist groups could gain access to nuclear weapons. Second, given Iran's intense hostility toward Israel and the United States, and its record on human rights, it is simply too risky to allow Iran and its terrorist allies to possess nuclear weapons.

Iran supports Lebanese Hezbollah, a major terrorist organization, and sponsors the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which was created following the 1979 revolution to "protect and promote the objectives of the revolution" (Zalman, 2013). The IRGC helps train Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, and other groups, and evidence shows that the IRGC — funded by Iran — is "funneling funds and arms to Shiite militias" in neighboring Iraq (Zalman, 2013).

Why Legal Sanctions Were Placed on Iran

Researcher Mahdieh Aghazadeh has created a narrative — published in the Journal of Academic Studies — that reviews why and how legal sanctions were placed on Iran. When the U.S. and its Western allies in Europe secured the backing of the United Nations, the sanctions became part of an internationally sanctioned legal response. While Iran retained its domestic constitutional laws throughout the period of sanctions, the many countries clamping down on Iran had the legal authority to do so. This scenario is a valuable reference point for understanding what kinds of sanctions could be expected to be placed on another OPEC nation that aspires to become a nuclear state.

Aghazadeh explains that the starting point for U.S. sanctions against Iran was when the Islamic Republic of Iran held American hostages for 444 days beginning in 1979. Subsequent to the Iranian revolution, Iran began activities that clearly indicated its rogue-state intentions and behaviors.

First, Aghazadeh writes, Iran began exporting its revolutionary philosophy and tactics to Muslim countries in the Middle East and Africa; Ayatollah Khomeini "declared his intention to export the revolution" to Hamas and to Hezbollah (Aghazadeh, p. 139). Second, it became clear that Iran was providing cash and weapons to terrorist groups. Third, Iran was visibly aspiring to become a "hegemonic power" in the Middle East and Persian Gulf by going into heavy production of weapons it could export to terrorist groups (Aghazadeh, 2013). Finally, Aghazadeh points to "human rights abuses by the Iranian regime" and identifies the beginning of Iran's nuclear program as the key development that caused extreme concern in the U.S. and the West.

Iran was also involved in a war with Iraq from September 1980 to August 1988, and it was deeply angered that the United States aided Iraq in that conflict. Nevertheless, the U.S. could clearly see that Iran was moving toward becoming a terrorist Islamic state. In 2003, Iran's nuclear program was discovered, leading to International Atomic Energy Agency inspections of Iran's nuclear sites. Those revelations in turn led the European Union, the United Nations, and the United States to impose sanctions on Iran (Aghazadeh, p. 139).

Conclusion

As this paper has demonstrated, OPEC nations thinking about developing nuclear weapons should examine the terrible toll that Iran has endured as a result of sanctions applied to its economy. The Middle East is an extremely volatile and violent region, and it made no sense — from the perspective of regional security — to allow Iran, a major exporter of munitions and money to terrorist groups, to develop nuclear weapons. Civilians in Iran have been negatively impacted by the sanctions, but the deal eventually reached between Iran and a coalition of concerned nations (the UK, United States, China, France, and Russia) brought Iran hope for greater peace and prosperity. The Iranian case remains the clearest available model for understanding what consequences an oil-producing nation can expect if it pursues a nuclear weapons program in defiance of international norms and non-proliferation treaties.

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