Book Description
At a time when international terrorism is the focal point of our concerns, a far more pressing threat has arisen to the balance of power in the world and ultimately to the security of our country. Since the Islamic Republic of Iran admitted, just two years ago, that it was secretly producing highly enriched, weapons-grade uranium, leading nations have struggled to react in an appropriate manner. In this book, the U.S. public is able to learn, in full detail and for the first time, exactly what the Europeans and UN have been trying to forestall. In Iran we see a country, located at the center of the Middle East, which could very shortly have the ability to strike its immediate neighbors and nations farther away with nuclear weapons. With the innate size to dominate its region, Iran is also a country with an avowed mission to export it's theocratic principles, and a nation which has, over the past 25 years, been a notorious supporter of terrorist organizations. Its parallel development of atomic bombs comprises the greatest threat that we have seen in the new millennium. In Iran's Nuclear Option, defense expert Al J. Venter details the extent to which Iran's weapons program has developed, and the clandestine manner in which its nuclear technology has been acquired. He demonstrates how Tehran has violated the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and details the involvement of several countries who have been shown by the IAEA to have trafficked in illegal nuclear materials. He proves, for the first time, a direct link between the now-defunct South African apartheid regime's nuclear program and Tehran's current nuclear ambitions. Venter digs deep into ancillary subjects, such as Iran's fervor on behalf of Shiite Islam, its missile program—developed alongside its nuclear one—and the role of the Pasdaran (Revolutionary Guards), whose tentacles have spread throughout the Middle East and increasingly further afield. While noting Tehran's support of terrorist groups such as Hizbollah, Venter follows closely how the Persian homeland itself has progressed toward a strategic nuclear capability that would make recent terrorist attacks look obsolete. Iran's Nuclear Option is essential reading for anyone with an interest in global security and the perilous volatility of the Middle East. It also comprises an indicator for America's own options, should it be willing to counter the threat while time remains, in favor of world peace rather than greater global instability

FROM THE PUBLISHER

In October 2003 the Islamic Republic of Iran admitted that it had secretly been producing highly enriched, weapons-grade uranium. This revelation shocked the world, as did Iran's further confession that it had been pursuing a clandestine nuclear program for nearly two decades. Throughout 2004, the UN and leading European nations tried to persuade Tehran to abandon its efforts to gain a nuclear weapons capability. As Washington and Tel Aviv looked on, however, the larger question became how to verify the good faith of an avowedly hostile nation, and if all else failed, how to pre-empt the threat by force.

In Iran's Nuclear Option: Tehran's Quest for the Atom Bomb, Al J. Venter lays out in meticulous detail the mullah regime's silent march toward acquiring nuclear weapons. He first describes the nature of the Iranian regime, which evolved from the Islamic revolution of 1979. He then turns to the mechanics of Iran's nuclear program, its acquisitions through the international black market, and the technological problems it has steadily overcome. He also examines Iran's missile program, developed with the help of North Korea, its unconventional weapons, and Tehran's record of fostering terrorism through the auspices of its fanatic Pasdaran military arm.

Of special interest in this book is a rare look at a rogue nuclear weapons program that once succeeded. In tracing the development of atomic weapons in his native South Africa, the author provides a grim case example of what the Iranian regime is capable of achieving, as well as a glimpse of the new diaspora of nuclear scientists flung off by the end of Apartheid.

In this new millennium to date, the West has repeatedly been surprised, both tactically and strategically, by developments rising from within the world of Islam. In this book the facts are laid out in stark detail, along with their politco-historical context, and an analysis of the ambitions the Islamic Republic of Iran holds for the future.