Re: Iran Offers The Ownership Of Its Nuclear Facilities
Iran in my view just wants to become a latent nuclear power and not a full-fleged one, just to reach a certain threshold without actually utilizing it for the other purpose. So yes there is cause for suspicion. Having said that, this isn't something out of ordinary, there are so many countries that fall in that category but certainly Iran knows how to irk the US.
As for the nuclear free Middle East, thats not going to happen anytime soon. As long as Israel is sitting on a fairly advanced nuclear weapons programme and is supported by the US, this will remain a distant dream. Egypt and Libya might be off the scene but other GCC states are now exploring the nuclear option. Its a vicious cycle...
Other GCC states may be looking at the nuclear option wrt energy generation but never ever will they be "allowed" to consider it for weaponisation or anything else.
Also wrt Iran, can we really be sure their efforts are just to be a latent power? Latency will not serve them unless they expect to develop enough expertise to start exporting the technology or become members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group. Even if Latent, it still takes a lot of time and effort to become a real nuclear power, and to demonstrate that one has to do a test explosion, both to show the world as well as for siesmic data /yeild testing etc.