One Wheel Drops off the Axis of Evil

They scoffed when Iran said it needed a nuclear reactor to meet its energy needs.

It probably did.

France has just signed a deal to sell nuclear reactors to the UAE, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia.

It just makes sense. Nuclear energy takes a large initial capital outlay, but, long term, it is cheaper than petroleum as an energy source. Oil is necessarily no cheaper for the Gulf countries than for anyone else: oil you burn at home is oil you are not selling abroad, and another $100 a barrel you are not earning. Iran, with its large population, needs that money even more than Saudi Arabia or the UAE does.

In fact, the Iranian nuclear program is no product of the revolution. It began under the Shah, and nobody then thought it might imply belligerent intent. But after the revolution, France, the US, and Germany abrogated deals to provide Iran with fuel and technical assistance, obliging Iran, unlike Saudi Arabia et al, to go in-house.

Bottom line: Iran’s development of a nuclear power option may indeed be entirely for peaceful means, and no cause for alarm.