Will Iran Go Nuclear?

Session: Grand Ballroom 3
Date/Time: February 19, 2013 / 15:30-16:45

Moderator: Jang Ji-Hyang, The Asan Institute for Policy Studies

Speakers:

Ahmet Kasim Han Kadir Has University
Steven Miller Harvard University
Uzi Rubin Rubicon Ltd.
Nasser Saghafi-Ameri Center for Strategic Research

Rapporteur: Gordon Wyn Jones, King`s College London

Press Release Brief

1. The general consensus of speakers that it is not likely that Iran will “weaponize” in the near-term.

2. The Iranian nuclear issue demonstrates “a high level of mutual suspicion and incomprehension between the United States and Iran.”

3. There is a spectrum of views regarding Iran’s nuclear intentions, from one of no doubt that Iran is against nuclear weapons and WMD, to one of Iran as clearly developing an “incipient nuclear strike force.”

4. There is recognition of Iran as an important regional player, but also as an unsatisfied power with “many axes to grind” and potential to de-stabilize. A key question could be: “Can Iran live with the world as it is, rather than how it wants it to be?”.

5. Economically and politically, it is very unlikely that Turkey would go nuclear in response to a nuclear Iran.