By Sarah Sheafer
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Today and tomorrow the G-20 summit in Pittsburgh takes place. There’s no doubt that an intense discussion over Iran’s nuclear program is on the agenda. For some time now, Iran’s nuclear goals have become one of the most polarizing issues in the Middle East.

Although Iran claims it is ready to “talk” with the West, it may not be. The country might be putting on a show just to buy more time to complete its nuclear weapons development. Although Iran claims it would only use its nuclear program to generate electricity, the United States and Israel suspect Iran of building nuclear weapons.

Perhaps the United States might appear to be biased, due to the fact that one of its strongest allies is Israel and also that some Americans do not consider Iran’s theocratic democracy even a democracy. However, Iran’s view of the United States and Israel does provide suspicion on the matter.

The U.S. involvement in Iran dates back to 1953, when British and U.S. spy agencies staged a coup and replaced the government of the popular Prime Minister Mohammed Mosaddeq with an all-powerful monarch, Mohammed Reza Pahlevi, who ruled for the next 26 years until he was overthrown in 1979. Several years earlier, Mosaddeq had angered Britain with his argument that Iran should begin profiting from its vast oil reserves, which were at the time controlled by Britain. The reason why the British had control over Iran’s oil was because it had discovered the reservoirs of oil there back in 1908. Even after the coup, many Iranians still considered Pahlevi a puppet controlled by the United States.

Another instance where the United States was involved in Iranian affairs was the Iranian hostage crisis where 53 Americans were held hostage for 444 days from Nov. 4, 1979 to Jan. 20, 1981. They were taken when a group of Islamist students and militants took over the American embassy in support of the 1979 Iranian Revolution that overthrew Pahlevi, the same monarch the United States had put in place back in 1953.

Another time where the United States had some involvement with Iran was in the Iran-Iraq War. President Ronald Reagan decided the United States “could not afford to allow Iraq to lose the war to Iran.” The United States thus supported Iraq in the war. Unfortunately, that decision cost Iran an estimated 1 million casualties. Iran’s people no doubt still remember the U.S.’s stance in that conflict.

Iran’s distaste for the relationship between the United States and Israel is quite apparent. Iran, like many other Middle Eastern countries, refuses to recognize Israel as a state. It has gone as far as naming the United States “Big Satan” and Israel “Little Satan.” However, Iran is not the only one to blame for calling names. In 2002, George W. Bush called Iran the “axis of evil” and accused the country of helping terrorist organizations, which is true since Iran supports Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza.

The real question lies in whether or not Iran would actually use nuclear weapons against Israel. Iran has proven to be unpredictable in the past, which lends the United States and Israel a right to suspicion. Israel has stated it would not wait for Iran to work on a nuclear weapon possibly reaching Israel. It has a right to believe so, however, seeing that Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is anti-Semitic and has made the fact known he denies the Holocaust. He has even stated he would like to “wipe Israel off the map.”

Nevertheless, let’s hope the situation does not turn into a nuclear war. But if Iran proves stubborn on its nuclear program and if Israel feels threatened enough, someone might strike. The Russian-Iranian alliance might further quicken the arrival of armed conflict. One can only hope that Iran follows through with its negotiations and the summit scheduled for today proves effective.