ABSTRACT
In terms of military efficiency, the destructive power of conventionally loaded missiles – often with poor target precision – is small in comparison to modern aircraft. Regarding traditional chemical agents, history suggests that in military settings they injure far more than they kill. From an operational standpoint, chemical weapons agents have both advantages and disadvantages when compared to conventional weapons. Chemical nerve agents can kill in minutes, and their invisible, insidious nature gives them a powerful psychological impact. Biological weapons have been designed to spread live organisms, usually bacteria or viruses, which could neutralize or kill the victim by causing some infectious disease. They can be used against living organisms (people and animals) as well as against plants and crops. Iran has unfinished nuclear power reactors and, although it has signed the NPT and has concluded a safeguard agreement with the IAEA, is suspected of nuclear ‘transactions’ with former Soviet republics (mainly Russia) and the Pakistani ‘Wal-Mart’ of Dr Khan.
