No doubt this is Iran’s effort to deliver a message of “transparency” about its nuclear program not being for military development. The Iranian government announced that it will host a nuclear disarmament conference on April 17th, 2010. The conference will be held for only two days.

This announcement comes right after Saeed Jalili, Iran’s top nuclear negotiator, visited China in a bid to get support from its close trade and energy partner. So far China has refused to take part in the international sanction-fest on Iran as a punishment for its obscure and ‘threatning’ nuclear program.

Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili

The conference is titled “Nuclear Energy For All, Nuclear Weapons For No One”, sort of like a corruption of the three musketeer saying except its basically “None for All, and One For All”. This conference takes place several days after the U.S-hosted summit on international nuclear security which Chinese President Hu Jintao will attend.

Iran has become particularly worrying to Western powers after Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization announced that a nuclear achievement will be unveiled on the 9th of April, 2010 which nobody knows what it’s about. The ever-so controversial Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his colleagues will be present at this “ceremonial” announcement.

Iran has been under mounting international pressure to abandon its nuclear program and seek another way to get nuclear energy however it has so far endured three rounds of sanctionings by the United Nations and is still going for their nuclear status. China has shown signs that it may go along with the fourth round of sanctions which the U.S and its other Western allies have been pushing for.

Countries especially Israel and its allies are nervous about a nuclear Iran, and there are many opinions on what will happen if Iran achieves nuclear status and develop nuclear weapons. Two of the more popular opinions are that:

1) Israel will plan out a preemptive air strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities before the Shi’ite country gets their nukes which may provoke a conflict between the two countries involving counterattacks.

2) That Iran will achieve nuclear status and make “smart bombs” to sneak it off to Hizbollah in Lebanon which will target Israel.

Debate still rages as whether or not Iran can be swung away from its nuclear ambitions through sanctions or negotiations. So far, sanctions have yielded very little as to what many have hoped for.

- Contributed By: Irvin Loce