Azerbaijan, Baku, November 12 / Trend , D.Khatinoglu /
Despite the recent attacks on Iran's nuclear program by the international organizations, the Iranian authorities continue this program as a last tool to restore its prestige and hegemony in the region, Professor of University of Glasgow Reza Taghizadeh told Trend .
Turkey and the Arab countries in the region go ahead of Iran from an economic point of view, said Iranian expert, who arrived in Baku at the invitation of the Foreign Ministry to attend the international conference "Dialogue between civilizations: A view from Azerbaijan." According to him, during the Shah's regime (until 1979) Iran was the most powerful, developed and influential country in the region, and to restore the prestige, the country currently uses various means, including nuclear weapons program.
According to the Iranian expert, who works in Britain, if Iran will have to continue this program, the achievement of its goals through it remains questionable. "Iran does not have a pragmatic plan to produce nuclear energy," Taghizadeh said on Nov. 12.
Iran's nuclear program started in 1960. Tensions appeared between Iran and the West after the Iranian Islamic revolution, and in particular the capture of the U.S. embassy in Tehran in 1980 and keeping diplomats hostage for 444 days. After People's Mojahedin of Iranian revealed plants for uranium enrichment in 2002, under pressure from the West the program was suspended. After his election in 2005, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad continued the nuclear program, despite UN Security Council's adoption of five resolutions regarding closing the program. Three of them are related to introduction of economic sanctions against Iran.
According to Taghizadeh, Iran feels the need to export oil and gas. "Shah Mohammad Reza said that oil is worthy of respect and a strategic material, but it needs to use nuclear energy rather than oil and gas for the production of electricity," said Taghizadeh.
In his view, Iran's demand for electricity is increasing annually by more than ten percent, and if the country does not start the operation of its nuclear stations, after 2020 it will not have oil for export.
Currently, Iran produces 4.3 million barrels of oil per day. In 1979 the country was producing six million barrels per day. 80 percent of Iran's oil wells have worked half of their exploration period, and despite pumping 80 million cubic meters of gas into these wells per day, oil production is not increasing. After Saudi Arabia, Iran ranks the second in the world with oil reserves estimated at 138 billion barrels.
According to the statement by official Tehran, until 2015 it is planned to produce 20,000 megawatts of electricity through nuclear power plants. According to Taghizadeh, this plan remains just a wish, because Iran has neither the technology nor the uranium reserves. Besides the West has not willingness to cooperate with Iran in this regard.
According to Iranian expert, official Tehran will not be able to solve the energy problem without foreign help. The Islamic Republic of Iran made a mistake in the beginning and has suffered damage of billions of dollars in order to continue the current nuclear program, said Taghizadeh.
"Saudi Arabia has attracted foreign investment of more than $100 billion and wants to increase oil production to two million barrels per day. Oil reserves of the United Arab Emirates are estimated at 90 billion barel , and Dubai is the most active business market in the world. Turkey exports at more than $100 billion per year. But Iran receives from oil exports nearly $60 billion per year, and foreign companies do not wish to invest in Iran. Thus, Iran tries to restore its prestige by other means," said Taghizadeh.
According to him, both by means of its nuclear program and by means of the Mehdi Army in Iraq, Hamas in Palestine, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Shiites Husi in Yemen and other groups, Iran is seeking to restore its hegemony in the region, but country's achieving its goals is highly questionable.