[morphball]

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Do you think its ok if Iran develops a nuclear weapon? What do you think they would do with a nuke if they had one?


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The most probably outcome is that they will use the weapon for deterrence value only. Only one country has every used nuclear weapons, the USA. Now, I am not saying the US is evil for doing so at all, but let's examine the lay of the land when the weapons were deployed.

1. The country the weapons were used on did not have nuclear weapons of its own for retaliation.

2. The country the weapons were used on did not have allies which possessed a nuclear arsenal that could be used for retaliation.

None of these conditions exist for Iran at this time. Moreover, history further demonstrates that countries armed with nuclear arsenals tend to avoid direct military conflict with each other.

There is a third factor, that does give one room for pause though, and that is that the United States and Japan were already at war when the United States developped the weapon. There is certainly room to argue that Israel, Iran and the United States are engaged in some level of conflict at the moment.