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AROUND THE WORLD 2: Pressure on Iran

This week, the government of Iran is feeling pressure from the United States and other countries, who are warning Iran to end its involvement in terrorism and weapons development. President Bush listed Iran as one of the "axis of evil" nations last year, and has turned attention to the country now that bombing in Iraq has ended.

There are three main reasons that the United States has turned its attention to Iran now.

First, recently the U.S. government has received information indicating that terrorists are staying in Iran and planning attacks on other countries. For example, some members of the U.S. government have said that the attacks in Saudi Arabia were partially planned from Iran. The U.S. government believes that this is possible because the Iranian government allows terrorists to live and work in their country.

Second, the U.S. is afraid that Iran is trying to influence the political structure in Iraq. The U.S. wants Iraq to be a democratic country, and the U.S. believes that Iran wants Iraq to be an Islamic Republic. Iran is an Islamic Republic, which means that all of the rules and laws of the country are rules and laws of the religous tradition of Islam. Therefore, it is very, very difficult to make changes. Iran borders Iraq and some people from Iran have travelled to Iraq to spread political and religious messages, which the U.S. does not approve of. The U.S. government feels that Iran's influence in Iraq is slowing down the process of building a democracy.

The third reason that the U.S. is paying attention to Iran is because of fears that Iran is trying to develop illegal weapons. Iran has nuclear equipment that could be used to produce energy for its cities, but may also be used secretly to produce nuclear weapons.

The Iranian government has denied all of these accusations, but is concerned that the United States will try to overthrow them, as it did with the Iraqi government. The United States government believes it will not need to overthrow the Iranian government, because the people of Iran might demand changes from the inside. There are large numbers of Iranian citizens who are dissatisfied with the Islamic Republic because they can not make decisions on many issues in their own country.

The United States seems hopeful that if the current Iranian government is changed, terrorists will not be allowed to hide in the country, Iraqis next door will no longer desire the Islamic Republic structure, and any current weapons programs could be easily halted. The important question now is whether changes can be made peacefully.

--Written by Betsy Mesard

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