Letters: Treaty is best chance to stop Iran nukes

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, European Union High Representative Federica Mogherini, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, Head of the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization Ali Akbar Salehi, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond and US Secretary of State John Kerry pose for a group picture at the United Nations building in Vienna, Austria, just before announcing an agreement on the Iranian nuclear program. Joe Klamar AP

Columbia, SC

India, Pakistan and Israel have nuclear weapons (along with the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France and China) and are close neighbors of Iran. If Iran wants nuclear weapons, considering it has three near-neighbors with them, who are we to say it has no right?

We do not want Iran to have nuclear weapons, so it is up to us to give it a reason to abstain. If the Senate kills the proposed treaty with Iran, the rest of the world may still end the sanctions for the sake of trade and oil. Iran will justifiably claim that we went back on our word, and will proceed to develop the weapons. Where will that lead?

We cannot claim a moral high ground on nuclear weapons, because we have so many ourselves, and we have even used them. It is up to us to either accept a sovereign nation’s right to act in its own best interests, or decide to go to war. Your choice?

Robert Kelly

Columbia

This story was originally published August 4, 2015 at 7:14 PM with the headline "Letters: Treaty is best chance to stop Iran nukes."

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