SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Chomsky: 'The Real Question is...What Exactly Is The Threat of Iran?'
Scholar and activist questions the need for a nuclear agreement when Iran has not violated the nonproliferation treaty
Jul 23, 2015
As U.S. Congress considers signing the unprecedented nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers announced earlier this month, renowned scholar and activist Noam Chomsky on Wednesday asked a less-considered question: "Why is the deal being pursued?"
The deal constrains what is referred to as "the Iranian threat," Chomsky said, "but what exactly is the threat?"
In an interview with Al Jazeera reporter Antonio Mora, Chomsky stated that Iran--which is a party to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), an agreement that seeks to achieve global disarmament--has "lived up to" the mandates of that accord, despite allegations it has violated some of them by failing to declare its enriched uranium program.
"I don't think anyone ought to have nuclear weapons, including the United States, but that's not the issue," Chomsky said. "If Iran's alleged noncompliance with the NPT is an issue--and I add alleged--that certainly doesn't require sanctions or a treaty or any other actions."
Chomsky, who has previously described the U.S. treatment of Iran as "torture," said on Wednesday that the U.S. and Israel "freely use force and violence" throughout the Middle East--unlike Iran, which would only use nuclear power as a deterrent.
"Furthermore, the U.S. is quite open about [their use of force]," Chomsky continued.
Asked what the U.S. should do if a terrorist plot was developing in a remote area of the region, Chomsky noted that the question illustrates the egregious double-standards of American foreign policy. "We feel free to attack people anywhere and kill them who we claim might be planning to harm us in the future. If anyone else did that, we'd nuke them," he said.
Watch the interview below:
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Nadia Prupis
Nadia Prupis is a former Common Dreams staff writer. She wrote on media policy for Truthout.org and has been published in New America Media and AlterNet. She graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a BA in English in 2008.
As U.S. Congress considers signing the unprecedented nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers announced earlier this month, renowned scholar and activist Noam Chomsky on Wednesday asked a less-considered question: "Why is the deal being pursued?"
The deal constrains what is referred to as "the Iranian threat," Chomsky said, "but what exactly is the threat?"
In an interview with Al Jazeera reporter Antonio Mora, Chomsky stated that Iran--which is a party to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), an agreement that seeks to achieve global disarmament--has "lived up to" the mandates of that accord, despite allegations it has violated some of them by failing to declare its enriched uranium program.
"I don't think anyone ought to have nuclear weapons, including the United States, but that's not the issue," Chomsky said. "If Iran's alleged noncompliance with the NPT is an issue--and I add alleged--that certainly doesn't require sanctions or a treaty or any other actions."
Chomsky, who has previously described the U.S. treatment of Iran as "torture," said on Wednesday that the U.S. and Israel "freely use force and violence" throughout the Middle East--unlike Iran, which would only use nuclear power as a deterrent.
"Furthermore, the U.S. is quite open about [their use of force]," Chomsky continued.
Asked what the U.S. should do if a terrorist plot was developing in a remote area of the region, Chomsky noted that the question illustrates the egregious double-standards of American foreign policy. "We feel free to attack people anywhere and kill them who we claim might be planning to harm us in the future. If anyone else did that, we'd nuke them," he said.
Watch the interview below:
Nadia Prupis
Nadia Prupis is a former Common Dreams staff writer. She wrote on media policy for Truthout.org and has been published in New America Media and AlterNet. She graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a BA in English in 2008.
As U.S. Congress considers signing the unprecedented nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers announced earlier this month, renowned scholar and activist Noam Chomsky on Wednesday asked a less-considered question: "Why is the deal being pursued?"
The deal constrains what is referred to as "the Iranian threat," Chomsky said, "but what exactly is the threat?"
In an interview with Al Jazeera reporter Antonio Mora, Chomsky stated that Iran--which is a party to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), an agreement that seeks to achieve global disarmament--has "lived up to" the mandates of that accord, despite allegations it has violated some of them by failing to declare its enriched uranium program.
"I don't think anyone ought to have nuclear weapons, including the United States, but that's not the issue," Chomsky said. "If Iran's alleged noncompliance with the NPT is an issue--and I add alleged--that certainly doesn't require sanctions or a treaty or any other actions."
Chomsky, who has previously described the U.S. treatment of Iran as "torture," said on Wednesday that the U.S. and Israel "freely use force and violence" throughout the Middle East--unlike Iran, which would only use nuclear power as a deterrent.
"Furthermore, the U.S. is quite open about [their use of force]," Chomsky continued.
Asked what the U.S. should do if a terrorist plot was developing in a remote area of the region, Chomsky noted that the question illustrates the egregious double-standards of American foreign policy. "We feel free to attack people anywhere and kill them who we claim might be planning to harm us in the future. If anyone else did that, we'd nuke them," he said.
Watch the interview below:
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.