In 2003, Muammar Gaddafi agreed to abandon the nuclear weapons programme for economic sanctions to be lifted resulting in his brutal death 8 years later by the hands of rebels with the help of Western powers.
It is difficult for a dictator or an unfriendly nation to give up a weapons programme that would protect themselves in the face of foreign or domestic threats as in the case of North Korea and Iran.
In 2015, after many years of negotiations, the United Nation Security Council and Iran agreed to lift some economic sanctions for Iran to reduce their uranium stockpile and stop them pursuing nuclear weapons until 2025.
Iran have one of the largest reservoirs of oil and gas but did not have the ability to sell it on the international market due to sanctions agreeing to these arrangements and signing multi-billion dollar contracts with oil companies like Total.
This was a triumph for diplomacy with Iran slowly normalising their relationship with other countries until the current President, Donald Trump pull the United States out of the deal under concerns for national security which were non-existent.
This means any company doing business with Iran could meet unilateral sanctions by the United States which anger all their allies and Russia and China.
North Korea, another nation who have nuclear ambitions as well as an enemy to the United States open up peaceful dialogues with South Korea and the United States with the highly anticipated meeting between all the leaders – that is if President Trump does not cancel again.
The statement made by the National Security advisor John Bolton was that the Libyan model could be used for North Korea angered the North Koreans which almost saw the fragile diplomacy to denuclearise the region almost shattered.
This illustrates for a nation that is on unfriendly terms with the United States could meet their demise if they do not have the means to protect themselves.
Photo by Fredography
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