Governments that keep secret their nuclear weapons may be understood in terms of the sensitivity of the security strategy. However, Iran’s secretiveness as to the whole truth behind its nuclear capability has something to do with the Shiite doctrine of deceit called ‘taqiyya.’ This lies deep within the Iranian belief systems. The teachings of Shiite Islam govern all aspects of Iranian society.

‘Taqiyya is the Shiite religious rationale for concealment or dissimulation in political or worldly affairs. At one level it means that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his regime can tell themselves that they are obliged by their faith not to tell the truth.’ Taqiyya involves ‘dissimulation and concealment.’ These are key elements of the Shiite faith.

‘Taqiyya requires the faithful to be deceitful at times of weakness.’ In the conflict between Shiites and Sunnis, the Shiite holds a history of being the downtrodden underdogs overrun by the more numerous Sunnis. ‘Taqiyya emerged as a response. Taqiyya offers a license to violate the strict rules of the faith in cases of extreme pressure or threat of extinction – something not unusual in Sunni-Shiite history. The doctrine allows dissimulation in the service of self-preservation, practiced by the faithful.’

Taqiyya, though, should not stop the West from negotiating with Iran. At the very least, ‘Tehran’s concealment is a means to an end: It wants nuclear weapons to provide security for the clerical regime and the Shiite community.’ So, as any country would be wont to do when it feels threatened, it will deceive. The West, therefore, would do best to ‘make fewer threats and more assurances.’

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Via The Christian Science Monitor