The world believes that Iran, despite its denials, is trying to join the handful of nations around the world that possess nuclear weapons.
Over the past two decades, that list of countries has been growing, with nations like Pakistan and India publicly acknowledging their nuclear weapons.
There has been just one exception.
Just as Nelson Mandela was emerging from prison over 20 years ago to lead South Africa out of the wilderness of racial hatred, his country was in the midst of another change that could be a model for the rest of the world.
By 1991, the Rainbow Nation had become the only country to dismantle and destroy its own nuclear arsenal. That decision, along with the end of apartheid, helped restore South Africa's international legitimacy.
It also made the country a leading voice for nuclear sanity.
Today, South Africa's weapons-grade uranium left over from the apartheid era is being turned into medical isotopes that can detect cancer and other diseases.
Swords into plowshares.