What is the history of Iran and its use/desire of nuclear capabilities? Can someone please point me in the right direction to do further research? It seems that most articles I find regarding this subject are heavily biased in one way or another. I've read that the west gave Iran the infrastructure for the establishment and proliferation of nuclear capabilities, but I've also read that Iran wants weapons to nuke Israel. If no other nations in the middle east have nuclear capabilities (besides claims that Israel does), why does Iran want them so bad? Are they worried of the threat of Israel? Do they want to use nuclear technology for things other than nuclear weapons? I know this is somewhat a matter of believing what Iran claims so it's not really a black and white issue, but I just want to see the facts of the matter.
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There is a lot of deliberate misinformation as well as plain ignorance in the reporting since this is a highly polarized and legal/technical area. I suggest this book:
Manufactured Crisis: The Untold Story of the Iran Nuclear Scare by Gareth Porter http://www.amazon.com/Manufactured-Crisis-Untold-Story-Nuclear/dp/1935982338
More http://www.juancole.com/2012/09/top-myths-about-irans-nuclear-enrichment-program.html
But yes, the US encouraged Iran to go nuclear in the first place, back in the 1970s. Since then Iran's population has tripled, its oil production has halved, and it burns half of that at home instead of exporting it.
http://iranaffairs.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/15_billion_deal.jpg
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/14/opinion/14iht-edsahimi_ed3_.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A3983-2005Mar26.html
Note that the US doesn't accuse Iran of actually having a nuclear weapons program, but of "intending to obtain the capability" to make nukes. This is neither illegal nor rare, but is inevitable in having a nuclear energy program. As a former IAEA inspector explained:
And so, clearly Iran has mastered many technologies in the uranium-handling and enrichment areas, such that if they wanted to go ahead, they probably could do it. That would make them a threshold state. We can name any number of other states in the world with the same level of technology and expertise. It's the intent that you have to worry about. We don't see intent to this case. http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=13286
The "Iran nuclear threat" is actually just a pretext to try to impose regime change in Iran just as "WMDs in Iraq" was a lie and pretext. http://news.antiwar.com/2011/04/20/elbaradei-us-europe-werent-interested-in-compromise-with-iran/
