BOOK REVIEW: Iran’s Nuclear Option, by Al J. Venter © Casemate Publishing 2005.
The threat from Iran is beginning to garner more and more media
attention as revelations about Iran’s involvement with Al Qaida and its
nuclear weapons program come to light. For anyone concerned with or
interested in the Islamic Republic of Iran, Al J. Venter’s Iran’s
Nuclear Option is an indispensable work.
Not only does Venter do a masterful job of detailing the history and
progress of Iran’s quest to build the Bomb, he also reveals—in some
cases for the first time—the degree to which Iran has fooled the world
about its nuclear program. Most importantly, Venter provides details
about Pakistan’s Dr. A.Q. Khan’s assistance for Iran’s program and, in
a little known revelation, how post-apartheid South Africa played a key
role in moving Iran’s bomb program along.
The South African connection detailed in the book should serve to alter
the conventional wisdom that post-apartheid South Africa is squeaky
clean in terms of its now-defunct weapons program. The link between
South Africa and Iran alone makes the book worth buying.
In a way, the title of this book is somewhat misleading. It actually
goes way beyond Iran’s nuclear program and provides remarkable
background on the theocracy in Tehran, its philosophy and its history.
It also goes into useful detail to fully explain and describe Iran’s
ballistic missile program. It covers Iran’s other weapons of mass
destruction, and provides insight into the Pasdaran, Iran’s
Revolutionary Guards.
And no book on modern Iran would be complete without an analysis of
Iran’s role as the world’s most active sponsor of terrorism. Venter
does a great job of this, including information on an Al
Qaida-Hezbollah axis, made possible by Iran.
Iran’s Nuclear Option should be considered a definitive work on Iran
and the serious threat that it poses to the U.S., Middle East and world
security. No national security or Middle East library could be complete
without it.