Former members of Warsaw Pact are one by one joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) while the spiritual father of the organization, the U.S., has described new NATO memberships as a fresh spirit into the organization.

Countries such as Bulgaria, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia are going to be the seven new NATO members that will join the organization in a period of less than two years.

However, the question on the lip of analysts is whether the spread of NATO will serve the interests of Washington's unilateral policies, and if the organization is a tool for the U.S. to carry out its own plans.

Following is an interview with Hermidas Bavand, a prominent professor of the Tehran University, on the issue.

Q: Prof. Bavand, do you think that the spread of NATO will serve the interests of U.S. unilateral policies? A: The answer is yes. NATO is moving in the direction of U.S. domineering role in the international arena. Still, the organization is a special legal entity in which any decision regarding its policies should be based on the consensus of all its members.

The spread of NATO also fits the treaty's programs to envelop the former members of the Warsaw Pact, the previously East European bloc.

Q: Will the spread of NATO promote international peace or will it harm it? A: NATO can act as the security arm of the Security Council, particularly considering the fact that the UN Security Council have no independent military force. Furthermore, given the fact that four NATO members are also permanent members of the Security Council, they will virtually have no problem to win the support of the world body to launch their campaign on a country that they deem an aggressor. This way, NATO can easily make arrangements with the Security Council over certain issues.

Q: How effective is employment of military levers in the international arena as the last resort? A: Under the UN Charter, world nations must first resort to peaceful approaches to solve problems and seek the negotiated settlement of disputes through mediation, fact-finding missions and using regional mechanisms.

Still, NATO has announced that it is considering "crisis management" as one of its main goals.

However, to do this, it requires necessary means to solve anticipated and unexpected crises.

Furthermore, it has voiced readiness to promote its presence in peacekeeping missions throughout the world, and consider itself the security arm of the Security Council. That is the reason why the organization is planning to promote its expansion as far as China in the East and North Africa in the South in order to have a better control over probable crises.

Q: Russia will join NATO in the coming years. What do you think has prompted Moscow to join the treaty? A: Russia's joining the organization will rid the country of heavy costs of militarism and enables it to enjoy the NATO geopolitics. Now the U.S. has a strong presence in Central Asia. Moreover, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan will also join the treaty and their anxiety about the West will be alleviated.

Q: What are the implications of the expansion of NATO for Iran? A: This depends on the diplomacy of the Islamic Republic toward the world powers. If we succeed in adopting a strong and active democracy while dealing with them, we will have no problem regarding the spread of the organization.