By Zachary Keck
A new report from a congressional think tank casts further doubt on alleged Iranian-North Korean nuclear cooperation.
There has been a persistent effort on the part of Iran hawks and other more careful observers to link North Korea and Iran together as part of a nuclear axis. This makes good sense from the part of Iran hawks, who want to hype the Iran threat and undermine diplomatic outreach to Tehran. Creating the impression that we can deduce Iran’s future behavior from North Korea’s actions serves both of those goals nicely.
As I’ve argued before, the linkage doesn’t make a great deal of sense. Iran and North Korea differ drastically in terms of their geography, culture and history as well as in the makeup of their current governments. The only common denominator is in their general adversarial status toward the United States. And by this barometer, one could argue that Cuba is likely to invade Florida simply because of Russia’s land grab in Crimea.
Another element of the North Korea-Iran nuclear axis question, however, is whether the countries are cooperating on nuclear matters (they have cooperated on ballistic missile technology). More specifically, it has often been suggested that Iran is receiving substantial nuclear assistance from North Korea. Some have gone so far as to argue that North Korea’s nuclear tests were really disguises for Iranian nuclear weapons test—in the same way that South Africa likely allowed Israel to test nuclear weapons on its territory—or at the very least that Iranian nuclear scientists were present at Pyongyang’s nuclear tests.
Read the full story at The Diplomat