Editor, Daily Nexus,

This letter is in response to Elran Tsabag’s column entitled “U.N. Must Disarm Iran” (Daily Nexus, Jan 30).

While I whole-heartedly agree that we as students have a civic responsibility to be proactive in educating ourselves, organizing and urging those in power to work towards diplomatic, multilateral and peaceful solutions to international conflict, I feel that Tsabag’s portrayal of Iran as a country “advancing its nuclear weapons program” is, in fact, counter-productive to the goal of peace.

Tsabag jumps to the conclusion that since Iran has removed the seals on uranium enrichment equipment – which it insists it will use only for research into nuclear power, not weapons – that it somehow already has a weapons program, and that “the shit has hit the fan.” Tsabag neglects to mention experts’ assertions that Iran is years away from having weapons, and the fact that Iran has not yet broken international law.

It’s this brand of overstated assumption that is so often exploited by hawks in beating the drums of war. … Recall Iraq? Thankfully, Tsabag stopped just short of echoing Condoleezza Rice’s fear-mongering warning that “the smoking gun could be a mushroom cloud.”

Tsabag is right that the international community must unite in an effort to combat the nuclear movement. As the global leader in weapons stockpiles, it is the U.S. that must take the lead in peace and disarmament to ensure that these weapons are no longer used as a deterrent against foreign military intervention.