Are double standards operating against some countries?
It is sometimes argued that certain countries – Pakistan, India and Israel- have been allowed to develop nuclear weapons without too much outside pressure because they are friends of the United States . But others – North Korea, Iran and Libya – are declared threats to international security and face heavy pressure or UN sanctions. In the case of Iran, it has not developed nuclear weapons and says it will not do so but it is developing enrichment technology which can be used both to make nuclear power and a nuclear bomb. The US response is that there is a difference between the threats posed by some countries and not others. North Korea is seen as an unpredictable and potentially dangerous dictatorship and Iran as a country that cannot be trusted because it hid a uranium enrichment programme for 18 years despite its commitment not to do so under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Libya is put forward as an example of a country which admitted to a secret nuclear programme and was rew
