The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps recently released a 25-page open letter to the public. In addition to making a case against President Donald Trump, the Guard seeks to justify the Iranian nuclear energy posture. The tone was remarkably moderate. Iranian officials argued that their nuclear program is peaceful, normal, and economically necessary. They claim that even though Iran has massive oil and gas reserves, it needs nuclear energy to power its domestic grid. By using nuclear power at home, they say they can save their oil to sell abroad. 

On the surface, this sounds like smart economics. Neighbors such as the United Arab Emirates have built nuclear plants, and Saudi Arabia wants to do the same. But when you look beneath the symptoms, the logic falls apart. The math simply does not work.