Past Arguments Don’t Square With Current Iran Policy (washingtonpost.com): “Estimates of Iran’s oil reserves were smaller then than they are now, but energy experts and U.S. intelligence estimates continue to project that Iran will need an alternative energy source in the coming decades. Iran’s population has more than doubled since the 1970s, and its energy demands have increased even more.

The Ford administration — in which Cheney succeeded Rumsfeld as chief of staff and Wolfowitz was responsible for nonproliferation issues at the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency — continued intense efforts to supply Iran with U.S. nuclear technology until President Jimmy Carter succeeded Ford in 1977. “