Turkey’s Emerging Role as a Mediator on Iran’s Nuclear Activities

Iranian nuclear activity has revived debates about the efficiency and reliability of the global nuclear non-proliferation regime in general and the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in particular. Furthermore, most Western countries regard Iran’s nuclear activities in the context of regional security, and of Islamism and anti-Americanism in the vulnerable and war-prone region of the Middle East. This is why Iran’s nuclear ambitions have attracted more attention than those of North Korea. Moreover, the importance of Iran’s nuclear activity is due to the possible future ramifications in the region. It is argued that Turkey, Egypt and Saudi Arabia (and perhaps Syria and Iraq) would pursue a national nuclear fuel cycle, or even develop a nuclear bomb, if Iran does not abandon its nuclear ambitions and this would be a nuclear nightmare for Israel and America. Proponents of this view point to different examples in the region to prove their point, including Egypt’s eagerness to reinvigorate its nuclear activities, Turkey’s reaffirmation of Iran’s right to use peaceful nuclear energy, Syria’s suspicious activities in the destroyed Al Kibar complex,¹ and Saudi Arabia’s undeclared negotiations with Pakistan on the nuclear issue. To Western