George bush iran nuclear program

Bush said on Friday that Iran's nuclear program remained a threat to peace and the United States would not allow Tehran to develop an atomic weapon. The West has offered Iran diplomatic and economic incentives to suspend uranium enrichment and to support a civilian nuclear power program, Bush said in a speech he planned to give to the Saban Forum later in the day.

Amid hopeful signs of political, economic and social reforms advancing in the Middle East, serious challenges remain, Bush said. Bush defended his decision to go to war against Iraq in March and topple Saddam Hussein, saying that after the September 11, , attacks the United States could not risk the threat Baghdad posed at that time.

But after nearly 3, people died in the September 11 attacks, the United States had to decide whether it could tolerate an enemy that supported terrorism and was believed to have weapons of mass destruction, and found "this was a risk we could not afford to take.

Weapons of mass destruction were never found in Iraq after the U. Bush in a recent television interview said the faulty intelligence on Iraq was the biggest regret of his presidency.

He acknowledged that efforts have not always gone according to plan and sometimes fell short, saying "the fight in Iraq has been longer and more costly than expected. Political front-runners make decisions to go to conflict, shape an alliance, reach an agreement, make peace, create diplomatic relations, apply a standpoint on nuclear non-proliferation or impose sanctions on other actors. These decisions are usually categorized by high stakes, massive ambiguity, and even substantial risk Mintz, DeRouen, In that sense, the main aim of this short essay is to understand how the U.

Later on, this paper presents the concept of groupthink decision making within the context of the United States. The third section of this paper attempts to analyze the U.

In the s, the U. Bush and Western allies have criticized Iran for its secret nuclear activities, and have imposed substantial sanctions, and threatened Iran for military action Lantis, Considering decades of hostile relations between Iran and the U. Under this agreement, Iran accepted to limit its nuclear activities to some great extent and to allow the unexpected inspection of International Atomic Energy Agency IAEA inspectors in return for the lifting of economic sanctions US-Iran relations: A brief history, However, the deal remained to be a contested matter in both Iran and the U.

During the next round of U. On May , Trump signed an executive memorandum, announcing the unilateral U. He also signed an executive order imposing secondary sanctions on any foreign corporation that continues to do trade with Iran.

The executive order gave companies day periods to remove themselves from remaining Iranian exchanges or face retributive US sanctions Borger, Dehghan, Holmes, Iran-US relations deteriorated between and early , when the U. In retaliation, Iran began a counter-measure campaign. Between May and June , Iran was accused of the explosion of several oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman. On June , Iranian forces shot down a U. Finally, in January , the tension between the U. Iranian officials stated that Iran will respond one way or another because there was an act of war combined with an act of terrorism against a top-ranked military official and a citizen of Iran.

A few days later, Iran launched more than a dozen missiles against two U. According to some political analyst, the events in early were acts of face-saving, because neither side wanted a confrontation at the peak of tension US-Iran relations: A brief history, As Mintz and DeRouen argue, the U.

In the concept of groupthink, group dynamics can impact how information is treated and how decisions are made. The cohesion or incoherence , structure, internal processes, dynamics, and administration of the group, affect decisions. The group that is making the decision pursues agreement within their in-group at the expense of exploring a diversity of options from other groups. The Treasury Department convinced banks and later multinational businesses that dealing with Iranian banks or supplying goods and services to the government carried reputational risks, due to the potential that these entities engaged in any of three practices: Facilitating nuclear proliferation, supporting terrorism, or money laundering needed to finance these activities.

More than 90 major international banks in dozens of countries signed on. The combination of economic sanctions and banking restrictions led major multinational companies to pull out of contracts with the Iranian government.

The international Financial Action Task Force and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development later issued their own warnings about dealing with Iranian financial institutions.

In , the Director of National Intelligence released the unclassified judgments of a National Intelligence Estimate confirming that Iran had had a covert program to develop nuclear weapons. The program included covert nuclear weapon design, weaponization including marrying a nuclear warhead with a ballistic missile delivery system and uranium enrichment-related work. The NIE judged this covert work to have been suspended in the fall of at roughly the same time that Iran agreed to suspend its overt enrichment activity at Natanz.

The release of the NIE judgments seriously set back Bush administration efforts during to convince the international community to impose further sanctions on Iran. Libya ended up handing over all elements of its nuclear weapon and other weapons of mass destruction programs to the United States. Over this period the Iranian regime increasingly pursued a more repressive policy at home, sidelining reformers and pragmatists and cracking down on regime opponents.

The Bush administration wanted to show that it stood with the Iranian people, but without discrediting Iranian political activists or subjecting them to the charge of being American agents. Washington had to deal with the Iranian regime diplomatically but without enhancing its legitimacy. The administration sought to strike the right balance in several ways. In presidential speeches and other statements, it made a distinction between the Iranian people which it supported and the regime which it challenged to give its people more political freedom.

Senior officials blamed regime policies for the isolation and hardships suffered by the Iranian people. President Bush spoke directly to the Iranian people on the Iranian new year, expressing respect for Iranian history, culture and traditions, and explicitly expressing American support for their struggles. In , the United States began to increase the flow of news and information into Iran.

It was hoped that their example would encourage Iranians to demand more free and fair elections from the Iranian regime. Please consider making a contribution to Vox today to help us keep our work free for all. Cookie banner We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from.

By choosing I Accept , you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies. The Iran deal began with George W. Reddit Pocket Flipboard Email. Deal with it. Next Up In World. Delivered Fridays.