1 00:00:00,659 --> 00:00:06,959 Why are so many people with so many different perspectives -- from the Prime Minister of Israel, 2 00:00:07,020 --> 00:00:14,760 to the King of Saudi Arabia -- so worried that Iran might build a deliverable nuclear weapon? 3 00:00:14,960 --> 00:00:22,140 Or to put it even more simply: why do we have to stop Iran from getting the bomb? 4 00:00:22,150 --> 00:00:27,099 The reason is painfully obvious: They might actually use it. 5 00:00:27,099 --> 00:00:34,259 France has nuclear weapons. So does the United Kingdom. But nobody worries that they will use them. 6 00:00:34,300 --> 00:00:42,000 It's not nuclear weapons that are the problem. It's who has them and what they might do with them. 7 00:00:42,120 --> 00:00:49,440 "We do not worship Iran, we worship Allah," said Iranian Leader Ayatollah Khomeini in 1980. 8 00:00:49,620 --> 00:00:55,680 "I say let this land burn. I say let this land go up in smoke, 9 00:00:55,800 --> 00:01:00,840 provided Islam remains triumphant in the rest of the world." 10 00:01:00,850 --> 00:01:08,050 A militant nation that does not fear its own destruction is a sure threat to its enemies. 11 00:01:08,080 --> 00:01:15,860 And that threat is taken to a whole new level if the militant nation arms itself with nuclear weapons. 12 00:01:15,920 --> 00:01:20,340 Who are the enemies of the Islamic Republic of Iran? 13 00:01:20,350 --> 00:01:22,270 There are three: 14 00:01:22,270 --> 00:01:26,850 The first enemy of Iran is the United States of America. 15 00:01:26,850 --> 00:01:33,780 A common slogan chanted by Iranians at public rallies is "Death to America." But it's not 16 00:01:33,780 --> 00:01:39,080 just a slogan. Iran has been committing actual acts of war against what it calls 17 00:01:39,200 --> 00:01:43,280 "The Great Satan" for over three decades. 18 00:01:43,290 --> 00:01:49,810 There was Iran's seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Teheran in 1979, the 1983 bombing of the 19 00:01:49,810 --> 00:01:58,010 Marine barracks in Beirut that killed 241 American servicemen, and the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing 20 00:01:58,060 --> 00:02:04,440 in Saudi Arabia that killed another 19 Americans -- not to mention the War in Iraq, 21 00:02:04,560 --> 00:02:10,800 during which Iran did little to disguise the fact that it supplied anti-American militias 22 00:02:10,810 --> 00:02:17,730 with sophisticated, armor-piercing munitions responsible for the maiming and death of hundreds 23 00:02:17,730 --> 00:02:20,530 of U.S. soldiers. 24 00:02:20,530 --> 00:02:26,810 A nuclear Iran could greatly expand its efforts to harm American interests, secure in the 25 00:02:26,810 --> 00:02:34,470 knowledge that its possession of nuclear weapons would make any military retaliation extremely unlikely. 26 00:02:34,540 --> 00:02:40,840 And over time, and not much time, a nuclear Iran could develop the sort of Intercontinental 27 00:02:40,840 --> 00:02:47,560 Ballistic Missiles that would bring American and European cities within range of its weapons. 28 00:02:47,560 --> 00:02:53,740 A second enemy of Iran, which is a Shiite Muslim nation, are the Sunni Muslim nations 29 00:02:53,740 --> 00:03:00,020 of the Middle East. An Iranian bomb would instantly spark a nuclear arms race in the region 30 00:03:00,120 --> 00:03:06,420 as Arab states -- nearly all of which have majority Sunni populations -- 31 00:03:06,510 --> 00:03:10,910 move to defend themselves against aggression from Iran. 32 00:03:10,910 --> 00:03:16,390 As these regimes and dictatorships race to become nuclear powers, the chances that nuclear 33 00:03:16,390 --> 00:03:24,230 weapons might be used, either directly or through terrorist proxies, grow exponentially. 34 00:03:24,320 --> 00:03:28,980 And the third and ultimate enemy of Iran is Israel. 35 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:34,340 Only around a thousand miles separate the Islamic Republic from The Jewish State. 36 00:03:34,460 --> 00:03:41,500 Iranian leaders have called Israel "a rabid dog," "a cancerous tumor that needs to be cut away," 37 00:03:41,500 --> 00:03:47,130 and have called publically and repeatedly for Israel's "annihilation." 38 00:03:47,130 --> 00:03:54,410 They wage a continuous terrorist war against Israel through their proxies, Hezbollah and Hamas. 39 00:03:54,460 --> 00:03:59,720 Former Iranian President Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani -- a man often described 40 00:03:59,730 --> 00:04:07,150 as a moderate and a pragmatist in the Western press -- articulated the Iranian position this way: 41 00:04:07,200 --> 00:04:14,220 "If one day, the Islamic world is also equipped with weapons like those that Israel possesses now, 42 00:04:14,280 --> 00:04:18,900 then the imperialists' strategy will reach a standstill because the use of even 43 00:04:18,910 --> 00:04:24,960 one nuclear bomb inside Israel will destroy everything. However, it -- [one bomb] --will 44 00:04:24,960 --> 00:04:27,870 only harm the Islamic world." 45 00:04:27,870 --> 00:04:29,770 He's right. 46 00:04:29,770 --> 00:04:34,590 That's why the civilized and sensible leaders of the world cannot allow Iran to develop 47 00:04:34,590 --> 00:04:36,900 nuclear weapons. 48 00:04:36,900 --> 00:04:42,580 Because once the Iranians do, they will pose a severe threat to the security of America and Europe, 49 00:04:42,600 --> 00:04:46,140 spark a regional arms race that could see the world's worst players acquire 50 00:04:46,150 --> 00:04:52,030 the world's worst weapons, and threaten the Jews with extermination for the second time 51 00:04:52,030 --> 00:04:53,750 in a century. 52 00:04:53,760 --> 00:05:00,720 Or to put it more simply: Iran cannot be allowed to get the bomb because they might actually 53 00:05:00,720 --> 00:05:02,350 use it. 54 00:05:02,350 --> 00:05:05,310 I'm Bret Stephens.