Mearsheimer and Zakheim Discuss "Why Iran Should Get the Bomb"
Article Summary and Author Biography
The political science professor and the former Pentagon official debate Kenneth N. Waltz's article from the July/August 2012 issue of Foreign Affairs.
Comment
U.S. and Israeli officials have declared that a nuclear-armed Iran is a uniquely terrifying prospect, even an existential threat. In fact, by creating a more durable balance of military power in the Middle East, a nuclear Iran would yield more stability, not less.
Iran's IAEA ambassador Soltanieh attends the IAEA board of governors meeting. (Herwig Prammer / Courtesy Reuters)
John J. Mearsheimer, a political science professor at the University of Chicago, and Dov S. Zakheim, a former Pentagon official who is now a senior advisor to the Center for Naval Analyses, sit down with PBS' Judy Woodruff. They discuss "Why Iran Should Get the Bomb," a recent Foreign Affairs article by Kenneth N. Waltz, who is a senior research scholar at the Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies. Mearsheimer agrees with Waltz's basic point that a nuclear-armed Iran would bring stability to the Middle East. Zakheim says it would trigger an arms race.
