The speech act made by the U.S. and Israel has been a
tremendous effective instrument in convincing the world that the ambition of
Iran of acquiring nuclear energy is capable to become an existential threat to
the whole world. It is in this regard that the proponent had scrutinized how
the U.S. and Israel securitized Iran’s nuclear issue.
The Copenhagen School (CS) on securitization was utilized as
the paradigm, which the paper had critically analyzed the process made by the
U.S. and Israel. The following key points are the characters attributed from
the CS thesis: (1) Iran’s nuclear ambition as a security issue determined to be
a social construction presented as posing an existential threat to a designated
object. (2) The governments of the U.S. and Israel were considered the
securitizing actors. (3) The Americans and Israelis were the referent objects
that possessed legitimate claim to survival and that their existences are
ostensibly threatened. (4) This will be successful if the specific audiences
i.e. the American and Israel political elites, businessmen and their public
opinion are convinced. And (5) the most important is the language of security
which is the ‘speech act’, this can be realized with the help of declarations,
policies, speeches of leaders, and sensationalizing the issue through the
medium of international media because it informs and influences the perception
of reality and has direct impact on human behavior and outcome.
Therefore, the proponent concludes that based on historical
facts; it shows that the U.S. and her allies were the culprit and perpetrators
in giving Iran the capacity to develop nuclear energy, though a part of the
blame should also go to the Shah’s administration or the Pahlavi dynasty’s
thirst for power and greediness which were in contrast with Islamic principles
and beliefs.
Keywords:
Copenhagen and Singaporean Securitization theories, Iran’s
Nuclear Energy, Israel’s Speech Act, the United States’ Speech Act, United
Nations
NB. Paper presented on February 28, 2009 at Bulwagang Sala'am, Romulo Hall, University of the Philippines-Diliman at 9:30 - 11:30 AM. An updated version of “The U.S. and Israel
Securitization of Iran’s Nuclear Energy” was presented at the 2nd (Virtual) International Conference on Iran and World
Contemporary Developments at Imam Khomeini International University in the Qazvin
City of the Islamic Republic of Iran on 5-7 October 2011.
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