Should Iran Be Allowed Nuclear Power?

You are correct that a peaceful nation has the sovereign right to exploit its own natural resources, whether or not others may think it necessary.  I would expand on this idea with the following:

1. If you raise the concept of sovereign rights of nations, you must remember that it goes both ways. 
2. Iran is not a peaceful nation.

Iran has declared itself, in words and actions, as a mortal enemy of the United States.  As such, the US has a sovereign right to defend itself in whatever way it sees fit to do so.  For now, all that our leaders have been willing to do is appeal to the UN and pursue sanctions.  We could, and should, do much more.  If we did, our cause would be just, regardless of what the international community thought about it.

Brushing aside all the talk of the IAEA, the various UN-brokered agreements, and which portions of which provisions were followed or ignored... if we identify a threat to our security -- and I believe that the development of nuclear energy in Iran is such a threat -- then we are fully justified to exercise our own sovereign right to counter the threat.  A nation of free citizens with a government that protects their individual rights is morally superior to a brutal Islamist dictatorship, and the free people have a right to defend themselves.

The debate really is that simple.

There is no doubt that any nation has the sovereign right to defend itself, if there is a justified cause for it.

But, pre-emption (which is what you are implicitly talking about) and imposing your will on others, especially when there is no evidence of any threat whatsoever - recall Iraq - is not self-defense; it is a criminal way of empire building, and colonialism. Pure and simple.

At the same time, the fallacy of your argument is glaring.

(1) While it is definitely true that the leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran have used rhetoric against the U.S. to incite nationalism, they have been very pragramtic when it comes to actual actions:

(i) Iran has provided strategic help to the U.S. to overthrow the Taliban and sustain the government there.

For years Iran supported the Northern Alliance, the main anti-Taliban forces, giving them arms, training, and funding. It opened its air space to U.S. aircrafts during the attacks on the Taliban. It provided extremely valuable intelligence on Taliban through its close relations with the Northern Alliance that entered Kabul before any other force. It was, according to U.S. diplomats, the single most important factor in the formation of the Afghan National Unity Government in December 2001 in the conference in Germany. It has captured hundreds of Al-Qaeda fighters and sent them to the government of their original countries. And, after the U.S., Iran has invested more in Afghhanistan and helped President Karzai more than any other nation....

(ii) Long before the U.S. considered Taliban an enemy, and when the U.S. almost recognized their government before 9/11, Iran was fighting them. Nine Iranian diplomats were murdered by Taliban, over which Iran almost went to war with them.

(iii) The Shi'ite groups that make the Iraqi government today are groups that were supported, funded, and trained by Iran, while the U.S. was busy supporting Saddam Hussein to attack Iran.

(iv) It is in both the U.S.' and Iran's national and strategic interest for a stable Iraqi government to emerge. Despite the rhetoric, the Iranian leaders have made it clear that they want a gradual, not quick, withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq, because they fear a rapid withdrawal will create chaos in Iraq.

(v) It is in Iran's and the U.S.' streategic interest for the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hurmoz to remain open and peaceful, so that transport of oil from that region to the rest of the world is not disrupted.

(vi) In no Islamic country, particularly in the Middle East, the people are as pro-U.S. as Iranians.

(2) There is no evidence that Iran is, or was, working on developing nuclear weapons. So, the threat that you are talking about is bogus. The fact is, even if Iran develops nuclear weapons - and there is no evidence that it is - it will not be any match for the U.S. or Israel. It will be a purely defensive posture, and a deterrent. Iranian leaders are fully aware that any stupidity on their part will bring a massive retaliation that will destroy their country.

(3) Even if we accept your premise that Iran is an actual enemy of the U.S., which it is not (it is a competitor for prominance in the Middle East), we should put ourselves in Iran's leaders shoes to understand where they come from:
 
(i) The U.S. overthrew Iran's democratically-elected government of Iran's nationalist Prime Minister Dr. Mohammad Mosaddegh in 1953, and put the Shah back in power.

(ii) The U.S. has never recognized the legitimacy of Iran's revolution of 1979.

(iii) The U.S. encouraged, and later supported, Saddam Hussein to invade Iran.

(iv) The U.S. shot down Iran's civilian airliners in 1988, killing 290 innocent passengers. It paid $62 million to the families of the victims, but extracted $1.7 billion from Libya for the innocent victims of the Pan Am airliner exploded over Scotland the same year!!

(v) Against its internationally recognized, signd, and U.N. registered Algiers Agreement with Iran in January 1981, which prohibited the U.S. from imposing sanctions on Iran and interferring in Iran's domestic affairs, the U.S. has done both.

This list can go on and on and on. So, there is always two sides to the same story.

(4) Above all, you exhibit a bogus sense of superiority. Iran is an old nation with 4000 years of written history, with many many important contributions to human civilization, and a culture so deep and rich. Yet, you display all signs of arrogance by claiming a fake superiority, and this is while the rest of the world by far despises the Bush Administration for its reckless wars, and the economic ruins at home which has affected the globe. What is the reason for your bogus sense of self-righeousness and superiority?

Just because you label a nation a threat, it does not make it so. The world is not a jungle. The sooner you recognize it, the better for everybody. The time for empires is finished, over. Get used to it.