Towards a Pluralistic Nuclear Middle East

The Iran - US nuclear conflict drags on despite repeated attempts to resolve it. While the US views a nuclear-armed Iran as a serious threat to its strategic interests in the Middle East and as an existential threat to Israel, Iran sees the US as a global bully bent on destroying the Islamic Revolution and the regime in Tehran. For the US and for Israel, dismantling the Iranian nuclear program is a top priority while Iran remains determined not to make any undue concessions on the nuclear track that would jeopardize its interests and survival. This paper argues for a pluralistic nuclear order in the Middle East with three locales of nuclear deterrents - Iran, Israel, and the Arab rendered necessary by the structural compulsions and historical imperatives of the region