Two takes on Iran sanctions

I am not sure why the Issues and Events section of Physics Today should include opinion pieces like the item titled “Sanctions on Iran Slow Science, Slam a Scientist,” by Toni Feder (August 2010, page 22 ). With such claims as “sanctions complicate international collaborations and breed aggression toward the West” and the rather histrionic ending quotation, “Is it a crime to show young people that science is a tool to support the development of our country?” the item reads like promotional material for the Iranian government. Absent are considerations of the importance of sanctions in stopping the Iranian regime from its stated goal of annihilating Israel, with the nuclear program as its weapon of choice. Nor is there any mention of the thousands of American deaths for which Iran is directly responsible. Instead, the article suggests it is the fault of the West that sanctions are in place. Feder notes that damage has fallen on one particular scientist, Javad Rahighi. Regardless of Rahighi’s exact plight, it should go without saying that when rogue regimes such as Iran threaten nuclear war there will be an international response, and the scientific community will not be immune to the consequences.

The article seems to safely conclude that Rahighi is not involved in the Iranian nuclear weapons program. Perhaps one should consider that in speaking to Western reporters, Iranian scientists may not exactly be in a position to be forthright. And why are sanctions against Iran viewed as a greater problem than, say, the evil of the Iranian regime itself, in terms of the persecution and murder of scientists?

The Iranian government clamors for war, and many people are caught in the middle. Physics Today should not be a forum for naive Western science writers to play Middle East politics.