Obama Pledges to Stop an Iranian Nuclear Weapon

Olivia

Posting #2

Topic: Leaders

Title: Obama Pledges to Stop an Iranian Nuclear Weapon

Author: Tom Cohen

Publication: CNN

Date: March 4th, 2012

Length: 1,206 words

This article is about President Obama giving a speech about trying to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. This stems from a fear that the Israeli government will try to attack an Iranian nuclear facility. Israel is under the impression that Iran is trying to gain total control of the Middle East, through their nuclear weapons program. So far, Iran is thought to have injured two Israeli diplomats in Thailand and the Philippines. President Obama has called for diplomatic peace talks; however, he did emphasize that "all elements of American power" would be considered, such as force. He is pushing this issue because many Democrats (and him included) see this as a national security interest for both the US and Israel. He has already met with the Israel president, Shimon Peres, at a peace conference to discuss options for both the US and Israel.

President Obama and other officials will continue to meet and figure out a plan. He plans to also meet with the Israeli prime minister later this week. While all options are open to debate, both countries agree that peace is the preferred option. However, looking at Iran's persistence of continuing their nuclear development, both countries will undoubtedly have to consider other options.

I agree with President Obama that talking things out is the preferred method of reconciliation; however, as President Obama said, it cannot be the only option. I appreciate that he does not sugar coat what is going on and that he is willing to use force if necessary. However, I think he and President Peres need to be careful on how they go about this, because after all, the US does get a lot of oil from Iran, which we are very dependent upon. This is a tricky situation that both countries are in.