Which way to Tehran? Pre-emptive air strike, cumulative diplomacy, technical isolation and the Iranian nuclear crises

Abstract

The issue of nuclear proliferation and its impact on the security of humanity remains the critical focus of policies and
scholarships on international security since the decade following World War II. Thus, it is within this context that the
Iranian nuclear programme has received so much resistance by Washington despite the lack of proof that the former
been a signatory of the non-proliferation treaty has a nuclear military agenda. While scholars and policymakers have
called for a pre-emptive air strike to cripple the Iranian nuclear facilities, or at least a diplomatic headway, this paper
takes a divergent path. Making a technical analysis of the Iranian nuclear programme, this paper concludes that the
crisis can best be solved through what it refers to as ‘technical isolation’.