Anyone looking at a map of the Middle East and understanding nuclear weapon capabilities might wonder if Iran’s nuclear agreement is much ado about nothing? It is one thing to worry about countries thousands of miles apart using nuclear weapons and a very different scenario for Middle East countries using nukes on each other.
Israel is the very small and hard to find nation on the above map. It has the Mediterranean Sea on one side and shares borders with Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt. Israel is 424 km (263 miles) from north to south and at the widest point 114 km (71 miles) wide. When looking at this map, realize nukes are not precision weapons.
According to Nucleardarkness.org, a 15 kiloton nuclear explosion, which is a relatively small one unless you are within a kilometer of it, will cause 3rd degree burns on everyone within 2km. However, the bigger danger is when the fireball of the nuclear detonation touches earth’s surface. When this happens, large amounts of soil, water and whatever else is nearby vaporizes and is drawn up into a nuclear cloud. This cloud becomes radioactive and larger particles (fallout) settle to the earth within 24 hours. Lethal levels of fallout can extend hundreds of kilometers from the blast area. Contaminated areas may be uninhabitable for decades or even centuries.
While the initial blast from a well placed Iranian nuclear attack on Israel is limited to Israel, the fallout would almost certainly solve the Palestinian problem forever and likely cause huge numbers of deaths in Moslem countries bordering Israel. It is very possible the fallout could cause devastation in Iraq and might even reach Iran. However, fallout would be the least of Iran’s problems considering the massive nuclear retaliation Israel would launch.
Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) has worked to prevent any country from using nuclear weapons since the end of World War II. Add in the holocaustic damage an Iranian nuclear attack on Israel would cause to Iran’s closest allies and it becomes even less likely such an attack would ever take place.
While listening to Republican diatribes against the Iranian nuclear agreement, recognize many Republicans won’t be satisfied with anything less than a full scale invasion of Iran. (Of course, you won’t find their sons or daughters in the body bags coming home.) Balance this with knowing the nuclear agreement may lead to better US relations with Iran and make your own decision if the US rapprochement with Iran is worthwhile.
