The 2012 presidential campaigns have come and gone, and they certainly have confirmed that bipartisan cooperation is scarce.

Still, there are some issues on which we all agree, including Iran’s nuclear threat.

President Obama emphasized this during the foreign policy debate: “But to the issue of Iran, as long as I’m president of the United States, Iran will not get a nuclear weapon … Iran is a threat to our national security, and it is a threat to Israel’s national security. We cannot afford to have a nuclear arms race in the most volatile region of the world.”

And Gov. Mitt Romney agreed: “A nuclear-capable Iran is unacceptable to America. It presents a threat not only to our friends but ultimately a threat to us.”

The candidates exhibited our country’s bipartisan opposition to a
nuclear-armed Iran, stressing the threats it poses to our allies and to us.

We must remember that the reverberations of this situation are boundless: U.S. citizens would be affected as much as the international community.

Although Tehran insists that its nuclear program would be for innocuous purposes like generating electricity, its uranium enrichment suggests otherwise. If Iran were to obtain nuclear capability, it would trigger an arms race in the Middle East, exacerbating the region’s current unrest from the Arab Spring. Saudi Arabia and Egypt, for example, have already expressed interest in pursuing a nuclear program.

Iran maintains close ties to terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and could transfer its nuclear weaponry to these groups. If Islamic terrorists wield nuclear power, it would end global stability and pose the largest strategic threat to the United States in history.

Iran’s quest for obtaining nuclear weapons will not only encourage many Arab nations in the Middle East to follow suit, but it will also rise to a new world prominence. This new status will transpose many nations’ allegiance to Iran from the United States, shuffling the international power rankings, causing us to drop down. Our global reputation will not only be damaged; our effort to deliver justice to the region would also be significantly curtailed.

If Iran gains nuclear capability, our fragile economy will shatter. Iran will be able to prevent robust oil-producing countries from exporting to the United States, causing gas prices to skyrocket and U.S. consumers to lose confidence. It also will decrease domestic manufacturing and reverse the effects of the Obama administration’s bank bailout and stimulus work over the past few years.

The bipartisan opposition to Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons emphasizes that this issue is non-negotiable. A nuclear Iran is a danger to global security, and united opposition to its developing program is the strongest form of defense. This is why the entire U.S. Congress agrees with both the President and his challenger that crippling sanctions against Iran must be increased, and a credible military option must remain on the table.

A version of this article appeared in the Nov. 6 print edition. Mia Appelbaum is a contributing writer email her at [email protected].