Iran > Key Myths > Military Option > The risks of attacking Iran are great, but the risks of allowing Iran's nuclear program to continue are even greater
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The risks of attacking Iran are great, but the risks of allowing Iran's nuclear program to continue are even greater
Claim:
The risks of attacking Iran are great, but the risks of allowing Iran's nuclear program to continue are even greater. more
Response:
This might be true if it were known that Iran's "nuclear program" involved pursuing nuclear weapons and that attacking Iran would halt this pursuit.  But the facts are otherwise.  We don't know that Iran has resolved to acquire a nuclear weapon.  What we know Iran to be doing at the moment is enriching uranium to low levels under IAEA safeguards ostensibly for nuclear energy use -- a course of action that preserves a weapons option without committing to it.  Attacking Iran would be far more likely to create or harden Iran's resolve to acquire a nuclear weapon than to weaken or eliminate it.  The military option is far riskier on every level than diplomacy.