Nuclear program of Iran

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This article is about Iran's nuclear power program. For information about allegations of Iran developing nuclear weapons, see Iran and weapons of mass destruction

The Iranian nuclear program was originally started in the 1950s with the help of the United States. After the Iranian revolution in 1979, the government temporarily disbanded the program. Iran soon resumed the program, albeit with less Western assistance than the pre-revolution era. Iran's current nuclear program consists of several research sites, a uranium mine, a nuclear reactor, and uranium processing facilities that include a uranium enrichment plant. The Iranian government asserts that the programm's only goal is to develop the capacity for peaceful nuclear power generation, and plans to generate 6000MW of electricity with nuclear power plants by 2010.^[1] As of 2006 nuclear power does not contribute to the Iranian energy grid. Ali Larijani, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, is the head of Iran's nuclear program.

During the nuclear crisis of recent years, the members of the United Nations Security Council have long sought to impose sanctions on Iran for its non-compliance with the Non-Proliferation Treaty and possible attempts to acquire weapons of mass destruction.

Contents 1 History 1.1 U.S.-Iran nuclear co-operation in the 1950s and 60s 1.2 U.S.-Iran nuclear co-operation in the 1970s 1.3 After the 1979 Revolution 1.4 2000 - 2006 2 Possible sanctions 3 Nuclear power as a political issue 3.1 Iran's nuclear programme and the NPT 4 Views on Iran's Nuclear Power Programme 4.1 The Iranian viewpoint 4.2 The Israeli viewpoint 4.3 The US and Western European viewpoints 4.4 The Declaration of the Non-Aligned Movement 5 Nuclear facilities in Iran 5.1 Anarak 5.2 Arak 5.3 Ardakan 5.4 Bonab 5.5 Bushehr 5.6 Chalus 5.7 Isfahan 5.8 Karaj 5.9 Lashkar Abad 5.10 Lavizan 5.11 Natanz 5.12 Parchin 5.13 Saghand 5.14 Tehran 5.15 Yazd 6 Timeline 7 See also 8 References 9 External links

[edit] History

[edit] U.S.-Iran nuclear co-operation in the 1950s and 60s

The foundations for Iran's nuclear program were laid during the cold war in the late 1950s under auspices of the U.S. within the framework of bilateral agreements between the U.S. and Iran. A civil nuclear co-operation programme was signed as soon as 1957 with the U.S. under the Atoms for Peace program. The Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was ruling Iran at that time and, after Mohammed Mossadegh's 1953 overthrow supported by the CIA, the regime appeared sufficiently stable and friendly to the West that nuclear proliferation would not become a threat.

In 1959 the Tehran Nuclear Research Center (TNRC) was established, run by the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI). The TNRC was equipped with a U.S.-supplied 5-megawatt nuclear research reactor, operational from 1967 and fuelled with highly enriched uranium.^[2] Iran signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in 1968 and ratified it in 1970. With the establishment of Iran's atomic agency and the NPT in place, plans were drawn by the Shah to construct up to 23 nuclear power stations across the country together with the USA by the year 2000.

[edit] U.S.-Iran nuclear co-operation in the 1970s

In March 1974, the Shah envisioned a time when the world's oil supply would run out, and declared, "Petroleum is a noble material, much too valuable to burn... We envision producing, as soon as possible, 23 000 megawatts of electricity using nuclear plants."^[3] Bushehr would be the first plant, and would supply energy to the inland city of Shiraz. In 1975, the Bonn firm Kraftwerk Union AG, a joint venture of Siemens AG and AEG Telefunken, signed a contract worth $4 to $6 billion to build the pressurized water reactor nuclear power plant. Construction of the two 1,196 MWe nuclear generating units was subcontracted to ThyssenKrupp, and was to have been completed in 1981.

By 1975 U.S. Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, had signed National Security Decision Memorandum 292, titled "U.S.-Iran Nuclear Co-operation," which laid out the details of the sale of nuclear energy equipment to Iran projected to bring U.S. corporations more than $6 billion in revenue. At the time, Iran was pumping as much as 6 million barrels (950,000 m³) of oil a day, compared with about 4 million barrels (640,000 m³) daily today.

President Gerald Ford signed a directive in 1976 offering Tehran the opportunity to buy and operate a U.S.-built reprocessing facility for extracting plutonium from nuclear reactor fuel. The deal was for a complete "nuclear fuel cycle", with all the proliferation risks that would entail. The Ford strategy paper said the "introduction of nuclear power will both provide for the growing needs of Iran's economy and free remaining oil reserves for export or conversion to petrochemicals."^[4]

President Ford's team endorsed Iranian plans to build a massive nuclear energy industry, but also worked hard to complete a multi-billion-dollar deal that would have given Tehran control of large quantities of plutonium and enriched uranium -- the two pathways to a nuclear bomb. Iran, a U.S. ally then, had deep pockets and close ties to Washington. U.S. companies, including Westinghouse and General Electric, scrambled to do business there.

In an interview for a newspaper article on March 27, 2005, Henry Kissinger said, 'I don't think the issue of proliferation came up'.^[4]

Until the change of administration in 1977, Dick Cheney, U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and Paul Wolfowitz, some of the strongest opponents of Iran's nuclear programme today, were all heavily involved in promoting an Iranian nuclear programme that could extract plutonium from nuclear reactor fuel for use in nuclear weapons.^[5] In fairness, it must be noted that Iran was an ally of the United States at the time.

[edit] After the 1979 Revolution

After the 1979 Revolution, Iran informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of its plans to restart its nuclear programme using indigenously-made nuclear fuel, and in 1983 the IAEA even planned to provide assistance to Iran under its Technical Assistance Programme to produce enriched uranium. An IAEA report stated clearly that its aim was to “contribute to the formation of local expertise and manpower needed to sustain an ambitious programme in the field of nuclear power reactor technology and fuel cycle technology”. However, the IAEA was forced to terminate the programme under U.S. pressure.^[6] The revolution was a turning point in terms of foreign co-operation on nuclear technology.

Another result of the 1979 Revolution was France's refusal to give any enriched uranium to Iran after 1979. Iran also didn't get back its investment from Eurodif. The joint stock company Eurodif was formed in 1973 by France, Belgium, Spain and Sweden. In 1975 Sweden’s 10% share in Eurodif went to Iran as a result of an arrangement between France and Iran. The French government subsidiary company Cogéma and the Iranian Government established the Sofidif (Société franco–iranienne pour l’enrichissement de l’uranium par diffusion gazeuse) enterprise with 60% and 40% shares, respectively. In turn, Sofidif acquired a 25% share in EURODIF, which gave Iran its 10% share of Eurodif. Reza Shah Pahlavi lent 1 billion dollars (and another 180 million dollars in 1977) for the construction of the Eurodif factory, to have the right of buying 10% of the production of the site.

The U.S. was also paid to deliver new fuel and upgrade its power in accordance with a contract signed before the revolution. The U.S. delivered neither the fuel nor returned the billions of dollars payment it had received. Germany was paid in full, totaling billions of dollars, for the two nuclear facilities in Bushehr, but after three decades, Germany has also refused to export any equipment or refund the money.^[7] Iran's government suspended its payments and tried refunding the loan by making pressure on France by handling militant groups, including the Hezbollah who took French citizens hostage in the 1980s. In 1982, president François Mitterrand refused to give any uranium to Iran, which also claimed the $1 billion debt. In 1986, Eurodif manager Georges Besse was assassinated; the act was allegedly claimed by left-wing militants from Action Directe. However, they denied any responsibility during their trial.^[8] In their investigation La République atomique, France-Iran le pacte nucléaire, David Carr-Brown and Dominique Lorentz pointed out toward the Iranian intelligence services' responsibility. More importantly, they also showed how the French hostage scandal was connected with the Iranian blackmail. Finally an agreement was found in 1991: France refunded more than 1.6 billion dollars. Iran remained shareholder of Eurodif via Sofidif, a Franco-Iranian consortium shareholder to 25% of Eurodif. However, Iran abstained itself from asking for the produced uranium.^[9][10]

Kraftwerk Union, the joint venture of Siemens AG and AEG Telefunken who had signed a contract with Iran in 1975, fully withdrew from the Bushehr nuclear project in July 1979, after work stopped in January 1979, with one reactor 50% complete, and the other reactor 85% complete. They said they based their action on Iran's non-payment of $450 million in overdue payments. The company had received $2.5 billion of the total contract. Their cancellation came after certainty that the Iranian government would unilaterally terminate the contract themselves, following the revolution, which paralyzed Iran's economy and led to a crisis in Iran's relations with the West. The French company Framatome, a subsidiary of Areva, also withdrew itself.

In 1984, Kraftwerk Union did a preliminary assessment to see if it could resume work on the project, but declined to do so while the Iran-Iraq War continued. In April of that year, the U.S. State Department said, "We believe it would take at least two to three years to complete construction of the reactors at Bushehr." The spokesperson also said that the light water power reactors at Bushehr "are not particularly well-suited for a weapons program." The spokesman went on to say, "In addition, we have no evidence of Iranian construction of other facilities that would be necessary to separate plutonium from spent reactor fuel."

The Bushehr reactors were then damaged by multiple Iraqi air strikes between March 24, 1984 to 1988 and work on the nuclear programme came to a standstill. In 1990, Iran began to look outwards towards new partners for its nuclear programme; however, due to a radically different political climate and punitive U.S. economic sanctions, few candidates existed.

According to IAEA spokesperson Melissa Fleming, IAEA inspectors visited Iran's uranium mines in 1992.

In 1995, Iran signed a contract with Russia to resume work on the partially-complete Bushehr plant,^[11] installing into the existing Bushehr I building a 915MWe VVER-1000 pressurized water reactor, with completion expected in 2007. There are no current plans to complete the Bushehr II reactor.

In 1996, the U.S. tried, without success, to block China from selling to Tehran a conversion plant. China also provided Iran with gas needed to test the uranium enrichment process.

[edit] 2000 - 2006

Main article: Iran and weapons of mass destruction

On August 14, 2002, Alireza Jafarzadeh, a prominent Iranian dissident, revealed the existence of two unknown nuclear sites: a uranium enrichment facility in Natanz (part of which is underground), and a heavy water facility in Arak.

It is claimed that Iran concealed its uranium enrichment programme from the IAEA in violation of the NPT until the facility at Natanz was revealed in 2002^{[citation needed]}, however Iran was not obliged to inform the IAEA about the facility at the time. According to Iran's safeguards agreement with the IAEA in force at the time, "Iran is not required to allow IAEA inspections of a new nuclear facility until six months before nuclear material is introduced into it." Iran was not even required to inform the IAEA of the existence of the facility until then, a point conceded by Britain at the March 2003 Board of Governors meeting. This 'six months' clause was a standard part of all IAEA safeguards agreements. Nonetheless, Iran allowed inspections of the facilities by the IAEA, pursuant to the Additional Protocol, and the IAEA concluded that the facilities were not related to any secret nuclear weapons programme.(Iran and the invention of a nuclear crisis by Siddharth Varadarajan, ^[12])

Iran was obligated to inform the IAEA of its importation of uranium from China and subsequent use of that material in uranium conversion and enrichment activities. It was also obligated to report to the IAEA experiments with the separation of plutonium. A comprehensive list of Iran's specific violations of the NPT can be found in the November 2004 report of the IAEA on Iran's nuclear program.

On November 14, 2004, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator announced a voluntary and temporary suspension of its uranium enrichment programme (enrichment is not a violation of the NPT) after pressure from the United Kingdom, France, and Germany acting on behalf of the European Union (EU) (known in this context as the EU-3). The measure was said at the time to be a confidence-building measure, to continue for some reasonable period of time (six months being mentioned as a reference). On November 24, Iran sought to amend the terms of its agreement with the EU to exclude a handful of the equipment from this deal for research work. This request was dropped four days later.

On August 8 and August 10, 2005, the Iranian government resumed its conversion of uranium at the Isfahan facility, coming only five days after the election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, allegedly with continued suspension of enrichment activities. This led to (on September 19, 2005) the European Union pressuring the IAEA to bring Iran's nuclear programme before the United Nations Security Council.

In January 2006, James Risen, a New York Times reporter, alleged in his book State of War that in February 2000, a U.S. covert operation - code-named Operation Merlin - had backfired. It originally aimed to provide Iran with a flawed design for building a nuclear weapon, in order to delay the alleged Iranian nuclear weapons programme. Instead, the plan may have accelerated Iran's nuclear programme by providing useful information, once the flaws were identified.^[13]

On February 4, 2006, the 35 member Board of Governors of the IAEA voted 27-3 (with five abstentions: Algeria, Belarus, Indonesia, Libya and South Africa) to report Iran to the UN Security Council. The measure was sponsored by the United Kingdom, France and Germany, and it was backed by the United States. Two permanent council members, Russia and China, agreed to referral only on condition that the council take no action before March. The three members who voted against referral were Venezuela, Syria and Cuba.^[14][15]

On April 11, 2006, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced that Iran had successfully enriched uranium. President Ahmadinejad made the announcement in a televised address from the northeastern city of Mashhad, where he said "I am officially announcing that Iran joined the group of those countries which have nuclear technology." The uranium was enriched to 3.5% using over a hundred centrifuges. At this level, it could be used in a nuclear reactor if enough of it was made; uranium for a nuclear bomb would require around 90% enrichment and many thousands of centrifuges to be built and operated.

On April 13, 2006, After US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said (on Wednesday, April 12, 2006) the Security Council must consider "strong steps" to induce Tehran to change course in its nuclear ambition; President Ahmadinejad vowed that Iran won't back away from uranium enrichment and that the world must treat Iran as a nuclear power, saying "Our answer to those who are angry about Iran achieving the full nuclear fuel cycle is just one phrase. We say: Be angry at us and die of this anger," because "We won't hold talks with anyone about the right of the Iranian nation to enrich uranium."

On April 14, 2006, The Institute for Science and International Security ([12]) published a series of analysed satellite images of Iran's nuclear facilities at Natanz and Esfahan.^[16] Featured in these images is a new tunnel entrance near the Uranium Conversion Facility (UCF) at Esfahan and continued construction at the Natanz uranium enrichment site. In addition, a series of images dating back to 2002 shows the underground enrichment buildings and its subsequent covering by dirt, concrete, and other materials.

Iran responded to the demand to stop enrichment of uranium August 24, 2006, offering to return to the negotiation table but refusing to end enrichment.^[17]

Qolam Ali Hadad-adel, speaker of Iran's parliament, said August 30, 2006, that Iran had the right to "peaceful application of nuclear technology and all other officials agree with this decision," according to the semi-official Iranian Students News Agency. "Iran opened the door to negotiations for Europe and hopes that the answer which was given to the nuclear package would bring them to the table.""^[17]

August 31, 2006

United States

• President George W. Bush insisted August 31, 2006 that "there must be consequences" for Iran's defiance of demands that it stop enriching uranium. He said "the world now faces a grave threat from the radical regime in Iran," demonstrated by the war between Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants and Israel. The U.N.'s nuclear watchdog agency issued a report saying Iran has not suspended its uranium enrichment activities, a United Nations official told. The report by the International Atomic Energy Agency opens the way for U.N. Security Council sanctions against Tehran. Facing a Security Council deadline to stop its uranium enrichment activities, Iran has left little doubt it will defy the West and continue its nuclear program.^[17]
• A congressional report released on August 23rd made many allegations that have been strongly disputed by the IAEA calling it "erroneous" and "misleading".""^[18]
• John Bolton, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said August 31, 2006 he expected action to impose sanctions to begin immediately after the deadline passes, with meetings of high-level officials in the coming days, followed by negotiations on the language of the sanctions resolution. Bolton said that when the deadline passes "a little flag will go up." "In terms of what happens afterward, at that point, if they have not suspended all uranium enrichment activities, they will not be in compliance with the resolution," he said. "And at that point, the steps that the foreign ministers have agreed upon previously ... we would begin to talk about how to implement those steps." The five permanent members of the Security Council, plus Germany, previously offered Iran a package of incentives aimed at getting the Islamic republic to restart negotiations, but Iran refused to halt its nuclear activities first. Incentives included offers to improve Iran's access to the international economy through participation in groups such as the World Trade Organization and to modernize its telecommunications industry. The incentives also mentioned the possibility of lifting restrictions on U.S. and European manufacturers wanting to export civil aircraft to Iran. And a proposed long-term agreement accompanying the incentives offered a "fresh start in negotiations."^[17]

Iran

• "They should know that the Iranian nation will not yield to pressure and will not let its rights be trampled on," Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told a crowd August 31, 2006 in a televised speech in the northwestern Iranian city of Orumiyeh. In front of his strongest supporters in one of his provincial power bases, the Iranian leader attacked what he called "intimidation" by the United Nations, which he said was led by the United States. Ahmadinejad criticized a White House rebuff of his offer for a televised debate with President Bush. "They say they support dialogue and the free flow of information," he said. "But when debate was proposed, they avoided and opposed it." Ahmadinejad said that sanctions "cannot dissuade Iranians from their decision to make progress," according to Iran's state-run IRNA news agency. "On the contrary, many of our successes, including access to the nuclear fuel cycle and producing of heavy water, have been achieved under sanctions." Iran has been under IAEA investigation since 2003, with inspectors turning up evidence of clandestine plutonium experiments, black-market centrifuge purchases and military links to what Iran says is a civilian nuclear program.^[17]
• Iran insists enrichment activities are intended for peaceful purposes, but much of the West, including the United States, believes Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons. August 31, 2006 deadline calls for Iran to comply with U.N. Resolution 1696 and end its nuclear activities or face the possibility of economic sanctions. The United States believes the council will agree to implement sanctions when high-level ministers reconvene in mid-September, U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said. "We're sure going to work toward that [sanctions] with a great deal of energy and determination because this cannot go unanswered," Burns said."The Iranians are obviously proceeding with their nuclear research; they are doing things that the International Atomic Energy Agency does not want them to do, the Security Council doesn't want them to do. There has to be an international answer, and we believe there will be one."^[17]
• On October 23, 2006, he told a crowd on the outside of Tehran that "The enemies, resorting to propaganda, want to block us from achieving (nuclear technology)," "But they should know that today, the capability of our nation has multiplied tenfold over the same period last year." ^[19]

United Nations

• The IAEA has condemned the US over a report written by a congressional committee on the nuclear situation in Iran. The leaked report was called erroneous and misleading in a letter sent to Peter Hoekstra. Allegations in the report of why an inspector was dismissed were branded outrageous and dishonest. One unnamed western diplomat called it deja vu of the false reports made by the US administration to justify the invasion of Iraq. ^[20]

[edit] Possible sanctions

World powers have long sought to impose sanctions on Iran for its non-compliance of the NPT. On 06 December 2006, the French minister stated that Iran will definitely face sanctions, but that the major powers are divided on how to implement such sanctions and to what extent they would be imposed. [13]

[edit] Nuclear power as a political issue

Iran's nuclear programme has become political in two ways: local and international. Iranian politicians use it as part of their populist platform, and there is international speculation about Iran's possible use of nuclear technology. Iran is a member of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which it ratified in 1970 — however, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) believes that recent Iranian non co-operation makes it impossible to conduct adequate inspections to ensure that the technology is not being diverted for weapons use.

[edit] Iran's nuclear programme and the NPT

Main article: Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty

The Iranian nuclear programme has been controversial as although the development of a civilian nuclear power programme is explicitly allowed under the terms of the NPT, there have been allegations that Iran has been illicitly persuing a nuclear weapons programme, in violation of the NPT.(see Iran and weapons of mass destruction)

The Iranian government says it sees nuclear power as a way to modernize and diversify its energy-sources, other than it's large oil and gas reserves. The Iranian public, nearly all political candidates, and the current government are unified on this point: Iran should be developing its peaceful nuclear industry. ^{[21] [22]}

Any use outside peaceful energy production would be a violation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which Iran ratified in 1970. Some of Iran's leaders before the revolution have also expressed their support in this regard. Ardeshir Zahedi for example, who signed Iran into the NPT during the Pahlavi dynasty, in an interview in May 2006, voiced his support for Iran's Nuclear Programme stating it as an "inalienable right of Iran". ^[23]

The current US administration, France, Germany, and Great Britain have stated that Iran's nuclear program has been suspicious. ^[24]

These allegations prompted an investigation last year by the IAEA which found no evidence of a nuclear weapons programme, although the level of coooperation by the Iranians was strongly criticized.^{[25] [26]} Traces of enriched uranium and plutonium have been found recently in Iran-although a senior UN official cautioned against reading too much into the new finds, as they could be produced by peaceful nuclear activities. ^[27]

[edit] Views on Iran's Nuclear Power Programme

[edit] The Iranian viewpoint

Iran says that nuclear power is necessary for a booming population and rapidly industrialising nation. It points to the fact that Iran's population has more than doubled in 20 years, the country regularly imports gasoline and electricity, and that burning fossil fuel in large amounts harms Iran's environment drastically [18].

Additionally, Iran wishes to diversify its sources of energy, which will eventually become depleted. Iran's oil reserves are currently estimated at 133 billion barrels, at a current pumping rate of 1.5-1.8 billion barrels per year. This is only enough oil to last the next 74-89 years assuming pumping rates are steady and additional reserves are not found. In taking a stance that the Shah expressed decades ago, Iranians feel its valuable oil should be used for high value products, not simple electricity generation. (Quote from the Shah in 1974 "Petroleum is a noble material, much too valuable to burn... We envision producing, as soon as possible, 23 000 megawatts of electricity using nuclear plants.") Iran also raises financial questions, claiming that developing the excess capacity in its oil industry would cost it $40 billion, let alone pay for the power plants. Harnessing nuclear power costs a fraction of this, considering Iran has supplies of accessible uranium ore [19].

Dr. William O. Beeman, Brown University's Middle East Studies program professor, who spent years in Iran, says that the Iranian nuclear issue is a unified point of their political discussion:

"The Iranian side of the discourse is that they want to be known and seen as a modern, developing state with a modern, developing industrial base. The history of relations between Iran and the West for the last hundred years has included Iran's developing various kinds of industrial and technological advances to prove to themselves--and to attempt to prove to the world--that they are, in fact, that kind of country."

The nuclear-power issue is exactly that. When Iranians talk about it, and talk about the United States, they say, "The United States is trying to repress us; they're trying to keep us down and keep us backward, make us a second-class nation. And we have the ability to develop a nuclear industry, and we're being told we're not good enough, or we can't". And this makes people furious--not just the clerical establishment, but this makes the person on the street, even 16- and 17-year-olds, absolutely boil with anger. It is such an emotional issue that absolutely no politician could ever back down on this question. [21]

After the 1979 Iranian Revolution, Iran informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of its plans to restart its nuclear programme using indigenously-made nuclear fuel, and in 1983 the IAEA even planned to provide assistance to Iran under its Technical Assistance Programme to produce enriched uranium. An IAEA report stated clearly that its aim was to “contribute to the formation of local expertise and manpower needed to sustain an ambitious programme in the field of nuclear power reactor technology and fuel cycle technology”. However, the IAEA was forced to terminate the programme under U.S. pressure.

Iran also believes it has a legal right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, a right which in 2005 the U.S. and the EU-3 began to assert had been forfeited by a clandestine nuclear programme that came to light in 2002. In fact, Iran's enrichment programme was openly discussed on national radio, and IAEA inspectors had even visited Iran's uranium mines [16]. ([24]) Iranian politicians compare its treatment as a signatory to the NPT with three nations that have not signed the NPT: Israel, India, and Pakistan. Each of these nations developed an indigenous nuclear weapons capability: Israel by 1968 [25], India by 1974 [26] and Pakistan by 1990 [27].

[edit] The Israeli viewpoint

Main article: Iran and weapons of mass destruction

The view of many Israelis, and seemingly that of their government, is that Iran's primary goal is not nuclear power but rather nuclear weapons to use against Israel. ^[28]

[edit] The US and Western European viewpoints

Main article: Iran and weapons of mass destruction

The views of the US government and several major European nations matches the Israeli view.

The Iran-based newspaper Baztab recently reported that the United States had provided 5 kg of 19.7% enriched uranium (well below bomb-grade) to Iran before the revolution. The 1979 Iranian Revolution and Iran hostage crisis marked a turning point in US policy.

[edit] The Declaration of the Non-Aligned Movement

On September 16, 2006 in Havana, Cuba, all of the 118 Non-Aligned Movement member countries declared supporting Iran's nuclear programme for civilian purposes in their final written statement.^[29] That is a clear majority of the 192 countries comprising the entire United Nations.

[edit] Nuclear facilities in Iran

[edit] Anarak

Anarak has a waste storage site, near Yazd.

[edit] Arak

Arak was one of the two sites exposed by Alireza Jafarzadeh in 2002. Iran is constructing a heavy water moderated reactor at this location, which should be ready for commissioning in 2014. ^{[30] [31]} In August 2006, Iran announced the inauguration of the Arak plant for the production of heavy water.

[edit] Ardakan

Construction of a nuclear fuel site at Ardakan is reportedly scheduled to be finished in mid-2005.

[edit] Bonab

The Atomic Energy Research Center at Bonab is investigating the applications of nuclear technology in agriculture. It is run by the AEOI.

[edit] Bushehr

The Bushehr Nuclear Power Facility (28.83484° N 50.89356° E) is located 17 kilometers south of the city of Bushehr (also known as Bushire), between the fishing villages of Halileh and Bandargeh along the Persian Gulf.

The facility was the idea of the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who envisioned a time when the world's oil supply would run out. He wanted a national electrical grid powered by clean nuclear power plants. Bushehr would be the first plant, and would supply energy to the inland city of Shiraz. In August 1974, the Shah said, "Petroleum is a noble material, much too valuable to burn... We envision producing, as soon as possible, 23 000 megawatts of electricity using nuclear plants".

In 1975, the Bonn firm Kraftwerk Union AG, a joint venture of Siemens AG and AEG Telefunken, signed a contract worth $4 to $6 billion to build the pressurized water reactor nuclear power plant. Construction of the two 1,196 MWe nuclear generating units was subcontracted to ThyssenKrupp AG, and was to have been completed in 1981.

Kraftwerk Union was eager to work with the Iranian government because, as spokesman Joachim Hospe said in 1976, "To fully exploit our nuclear power plant capacity, we have to land at least three contracts a year for delivery abroad. The market here is about saturated, and the United States has cornered most of the rest of Europe, so we have to concentrate on the third world."

Kraftwerk Union fully withdrew from the Bushehr nuclear project in July 1979, after work stopped in January 1979, with one reactor 50% complete, and the other reactor 85% complete. They said they based their action on Iran's non-payment of $450 million in overdue payments. The company had received $2.5 billion of the total contract. Their cancellation came after certainty that the Iranian government would unilaterally terminate the contract themselves, following the 1979 Iranian Revolution, which paralyzed Iran's economy and led to a crisis in Iran's relations with the West.

In 1984, Kraftwerk Union did a preliminary assessment to see if it could resume work on the project, but declined to do so while the Iran-Iraq war continued. In April of that year, the U.S. State Department said, "We believe it would take at least two to three years to complete construction of the reactors at Bushehr." The spokesperson also said that the light water power reactors at Bushehr "are not particularly well-suited for a weapons program." The spokesman went on to say, "In addition, we have no evidence of Iranian construction of other facilities that would be necessary to separate plutonium from spent reactor fuel."

The reactors were then damaged by multiple Iraqi air strikes from 1984 to 1988. Shortly afterwards Iraq invaded Iran and the nuclear program was stopped until the end of the war.

In 1990, Iran began to look outwards towards partners for its nuclear program; however, due to a radically different political climate and punitive U.S. economic sanctions, few candidates existed.

In 1995 Iran signed a contract with Russia to resume work on the partially complete Bushehr plant, installing into the existing Bushehr I building a 915MWe VVER-1000 pressurized water reactor, with completion expected in 2007.^[32] The Russian state-controlled company Atomstroyexport (Atomic Construction Export), an arm of Russia's atomic energy ministry, MinAtom, is constructing the plant. There are no current plans to complete Bushehr II reactor.

[edit] Chalus

In 1995 Iranian exiles living in Europe claimed Iran was building a secret facility for building nuclear weapons in a mountain 20 kilometres from the town of Chalus.^[33] In October 2003 Mohamed ElBaradei announced that "In terms of inspections, so far, we have been allowed to visit those sites to which we have requested access". It therefore appears the allegations about the Chalus site were unfounded.^[34]

[edit] Isfahan

The Nuclear Technology Center of Isfahan is a nuclear research facility that currently operates four small nuclear research reactors, all supplied by China. It is run by the AEOI. ^[35]

The Uranium Conversion Facility at Isfahan converts yellowcake into uranium hexafluoride. As of late October 2004, the site is 70% operational with 21 of 24 workshops completed. There is also a Zirconium Production Plant (ZPP) located nearby that produces the necessary ingredients and alloys for nuclear reactors. ^[36]

[edit] Karaj

The Center for Agricultural Research and Nuclear Medicine at Hashtgerd was established in 1991 and is run by the AEOI. [14]

[edit] Lashkar Abad

A pilot plant for isotope separation. Established in 2002, the site was first exposed by Alireza Jafarzadeh in May 2003 which led to th einspection of the site by the IAEA. Laser enrichment experiments were carried out there, however, the plant has been shut down since Iran declared it has no intentions of enriching uranium using the laser isotope separation technique. Image:Http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/8e/Jafarzadeh.jpgIn September 2006, Alireza Jafarzadeh claimed that the site has been revived by Iran and that laser enrichment has been taking place at this site.SPC

[edit] Lavizan

(35°46′23″N, 51°29′52″E) All buildings at the former Lavizan-Shian Technical Research Center site were demolished between August 2003 and March 2004 and topsoil has been removed. Environmental samples taken by IAEA inspectors show no trace of radiation. The site is to be returned to the City of Teheran.^[37]

[edit] Natanz

(33°43′24.43″N, 51°43′37.55″E) is a hardened Fuel Enrichment Plant (FEP) covering 100,000 square metres that is built 8 meters underground and protected by a concrete wall 2.5 meters thick, itself protected by another concrete wall. In 2004, the roof was hardened with reinforced concrete and covered with 22 metres of earth. The complex consists of two 25,000 square meter halls and a number of administrative buildings. This once secret site was one of the two exposed by Alireza Jafarzadeh in 2002. IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei visited the site on 21 February 2003 and reported that 160 centrifuges were complete and ready for operation, with 1000 more under construction at the site.^[38]

[edit] Parchin

The Parchin Military Complex is not a nuclear site. This was confirmed on 1 November 2005, when the IAEA was given access to the site and environmental samples were taken. Inspectors did not observe any unusual activities in the buildings visited, and the results of the analysis of environmental samples did not indicate the presence of nuclear material.^[39]

[edit] Saghand

(32°28′45″N, 55°24′30″E) Location of Iran's first uranium ore mines, expected to become operational by March 2005. The deposit is estimated to contain 3,000 to 5,000 tons of uranium oxide at a density of about 500 ppm over an area of 100 to 150 square kilometers. [15]

[edit] Tehran

The Tehran Nuclear Research Center (TNRC) is managed by the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI). It is equipped with a U.S.-supplied 5-megawatt nuclear research reactor capable of producing 600g of plutonium annually in spent fuel. 17 years production would be sufficient to make a single atomic bomb, however storage of the waste is closely monitored by the IAEA and extracting the plutonium is not possible while Iran maintains its status as a signatory to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.

The Plasma Physics Research Center of Islamic Azad University operates a Tokamak fusion reactor designated Iran Tokamak 1 (IR-T1).^[40]

[edit] Yazd

Yazd Radiation Processing Center is equipped with a Rhodotron TT200 accelerator, made by IBA, Belgium, with outputs of 5 and 10MeV beam lines and a maximum power of 100KW. As of 2006 the centre, headed by Professor M. Haji Saeid, is engaged in geophysical research to analyze the mineral deposits surrounding the city and is expected to play an important role in supporting the medical and polymer industries.^[41]

[edit] Timeline

1956: Marion King Hubbert publishes his prediction that world oil production will peak in the year 2000.^[42]

1957 The United States and Iran sign a civil nuclear co-operation agreement as part of the US Atoms for Peace program.^[40]

9 August 1963, Iran signs the Partial nuclear test ban treaty (PTBT) and ratifies it on 23 December 1963.^[43]

1967: The Tehran Nuclear Research Centre is built and run by the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI).

September 1967, The USA supplies 5.545kg of enriched uranium, of which 5.165kg contain fissile isotopes for fuel in a research reactor. The USA also supplies 112kg of plutonium, of which 104kg are fissile isotopes, for use as start-up sources for research reactor.^[40]

July 1968: Iran signs the Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty and ratifies it. It goes into effect on March 5, 1970.

1970s: Under the rule of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, plans are made to construct up to twenty nuclear power stations across the country with U.S. support and backing. Numerous contracts are signed with various Western firms, and the German firm Kraftwerk Union (a subsidiary of Siemens AG) begins construction on the Bushehr power plant in 1974.

1974: Iranian oil production peaks at 6.1 million barrels per day.^[44]

1974: the Atomic Energy Act of Iran was promulgated. The Act covers the activities for which the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran was established at that period. These activities included using atomic energy and radiation in industry, agriculture and service industries, setting up atomic power stations and desalination factories, producing source materials needed in atomic industries, creating the scientific and technical infrastructure required for carrying out the said projects, as well as co-ordinating and supervising all matters pertaining to atomic energy in the country.^[45]

1975: Massachusetts Institute of Technology signs a contract with the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran to provide training for Iranian nuclear engineers.

1979: Iran's Islamic revolution puts a freeze on the existing nuclear programme and the Bushehr contract with Siemens AG is terminated as the German firm leaves.

1982: Iranian officials announced that they planned to build a reactor powered by their own uranium at the Isfahan Nuclear Technology Centre.

1983: International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors inspect Iranian nuclear facilities, and report on a proposed co-operation agreement to help Iran manufacture enriched uranium fuel as part of Iran's "ambitious programme in the field of nuclear power reactor technology and fuel cycle technology." The assistance programme is later terminated under U.S. pressure.

1984: Iranian radio announced that negotiations with Niger on the purchase of uranium were nearing conclusion.

1985: Iranian radio programmes openly discuss the significance of the discovery of uranium deposits in Iran with the director of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation.

1989: the Radiation Protection Act of Iran was ratified in public session of April 9, 1989 by the Parliament and was approved by the Council of Law-Guardians on April 19, 1989.^[45]

January 1995: Iran signs an $800 million contract with the Russian Ministry of Atomic Energy (MinAtom) to complete reactors at Bushehr under IAEA safeguards.^[46]

1996: China and Iran inform the IAEA of plans to construct a nuclear enrichment facility in Iran, but China withdraws from the contract under U.S. pressure. Iran advises the IAEA that it plans to pursue the construction anyway.

2002: Iran's oil production, following the OPEC double peak model, peaks at 3.4 million barrels a day and goes into terminal decline.^[44]

January 29, 2002: US president George W. Bush speaks of an "Axis of evil" gathering Iran, Iraq and North Korea during his State of the Union Address.

August 2002: Alireza Jafarzadeh exposed two secret nuclear facilities in Natanz and Arak using information obtained from sources well placed within the Iranian regime by the terrorist organisation MEK.

December 2002: The U.S. accuses Iran of attempting to make nuclear weapons.

16 June 2003: Mohamed ElBaradei, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, declares that "Iran failed to report certain nuclear materials and activities" and requests "co-operative actions" from the country. However, at no point does the International Atomic Energy Agency declare Iran in breach of the Non-Proliferation Treaty. [16]

October 2003: Iran begins to hold negotiations with IAEA members with respect to a more stringent set of nuclear inspections.[17]

October 31, 2003: The IAEA declares that Iran has submitted a "comprehensive" declaration of its nuclear programme.[18]

November 11, 2003: The IAEA declares that there is no evidence that Iran is attempting to build an atomic bomb. [19]

November 13, 2003: Washington claims that the IAEA report is "impossible to believe". The UN stands behind the facts provided in the report. [20]

December 18, 2003: Iran signs the Additional Protocol to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty^[47]

June 2004: Kamal Kharrazi, Iran's foreign minister, responding to demands that Iran halt its nuclear programme, says: "We won't accept any new obligations. Iran has a high technical capability and has to be recognised by the international community as a member of the nuclear club. This is an irreversible path." [21]

June 14, 2004: Mohamed ElBaradei, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, accuses Iran of "less than satisfactory" co-operation during the IAEA investigation of its nuclear program. ElBaradei demands "accelerated and proactive cooperation" from Iran.

July 27, 2004: Iran breaks seals placed upon uranium centrifuges by the International Atomic Energy Agency and resumes construction of the centrifuges at Natanz. (AP)

July 31, 2004: Iran states that it has resumed building nuclear centrifuges to enrich uranium, reversing a voluntary October 2003 pledge to Britain, France, and Germany to suspend all uranium enrichment-related activities. The United States contends that the purpose is to produce weapons-grade uranium.

August 10, 2004: Several long-standing charges and questions regarding weapons-grade uranium samples are clarified by the IAEA. The samples match Pakistani and Russian sources which had contaminated imported Iranian equipment from those countries. (Jane's Intelligence)

August 24, 2004: Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi declares in Wellington, New Zealand, that Iran will retaliate with force against Israel or any nation that attempts a pre-emptive strike on its nuclear programme. Earlier in the week, Israel's Chief of Staff, General Moshe Ya'alon, told an Israeli newspaper that "Iran is striving for nuclear capability and I suggest that in this matter [Israel] not rely on others."

September 6, 2004: The latest IAEA report finds that "unresolved issues surrounding Iran's atomic programme are being clarified or resolved outright". [22]

September 18, 2004: The IAEA, the United Nations's nuclear watchdog agency, unanimously adopts a resolution calling on Iran to suspend all activities related to uranium enrichment.

September 21, 2004: In defiance of the United Nations, Iran announces that it will continue its nuclear programme converting 37 tonnes of yellowcake uranium for processing in centrifuges. (Reuters)

October 18, 2004: Iran states that it is willing to negotiate with the U.K., Germany, and France regarding a suspension of its uranium enrichment activities, but that it will never renounce its right to enrich uranium.

October 24, 2004: The European Union makes a proposal to provide civilian nuclear technology to Iran in exchange for Iran terminating its uranium enrichment programme permanently. Iran rejects this outright saying it will not renounce its right to enrichment technologies. A decision to refer the matter from the International Atomic Energy Agency to the United Nations Security Council is expected on November 25, 2004.

November 15, 2004: Talks between Iran and three European Union members, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany, result in a compromise. Iran agrees to temporarily suspend its active uranium enrichment programme for the duration of a second round of talks, during which attempts will be made at arriving at a permanent, mutually-beneficial solution.

November 15, 2004: A confidential UN report is leaked. The report states that all nuclear materials within Iran have been accounted for and there is no evidence of any military nuclear programme. Nevertheless, it still cannot discount the possibility of such a programme because it does not have perfect knowledge. (BBC)

November 22, 2004: Iran declares that it will voluntarily suspend its uranium enrichment programme to enter negotiations with the EU. Iran will review its decision in three months. The EU seeks to have the suspension made permanent and is willing to provide economic and political incentives.

November 24, 2004: Iran seeks to obtain permission from the European Union, in accordance with its recent agreement with the EU, to allow it to continue working with 24 centrifuges for research purposes.

November 28, 2004: Iran withdraws its demand that some of its technology be exempted from a freeze on nuclear enrichment activities. (BBC)

June 2005, the U.S. secretary of state Condoleezza Rice said IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei should either toughen his stance on Iran or fail to be chosen for a third term as IAEA head. Following a one on one meeting between Dr Rice and Dr ElBaredai on 9 June the US withdrew its opposition and Dr ElBaradei was re-elected to his position on 13 June 2005.^[48]

August 8 and August 10, 2005: Iran resumed the conversion of uranium at the Isfahan facility, under IAEA safeguards, but does not engage in enrichment of uranium.

August 9, 2005: The Iranian Head of State Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued a fatwa forbidding the production, stockpiling and use of nuclear weapons. The full text of the fatwa was released in an official statement at the meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna.

August 11, 2005: The thirty-five-member governing board of the IAEA adopted a resolution calling upon Iran to suspend uranium conversion, and instructing director general Mohammed ElBaradeil to submit a report on Iran's nuclear programme by September 3, 2005. The resolution is considered by many to be weak since it does not include the threat of referral to the security council.

August 15, 2005: Iran's new president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, installed his new government. Ali Larijani replaced Hassan Rowhani as secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, Iran's top policy-making body, with nuclear policy in his purview.

September 15, 2005: At a United Nations high-level summit, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stated Iran had the right to develop a civil nuclear-power programme within the terms of the 1970 treaty on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons. He offers a compromise solution in which foreign companies will be permitted to invest and participate in Iran's nuclear programme, which he said would ensure that it cannot be secretly used to make nuclear weapons. The majority of the U.S. delegation left during his speech, but the U.S./UN mission denied there was a walkout.^[49]

October 10 2005, Iranian Oil Ministry Deputy for International Affairs Hadi Nejad-Hosseinian said that Iran could run out of oil reserves in nine decades.^[50]

November 5, 2005: The Iranian government approved a plan that allows foreign investors to participate in the work at the Natanz uranium enrichment plant. The cabinet also authorised the AEOI to take necessary measures to attract foreign and domestic investment in the uranium enrichment process.^[51]

November 19, 2005: The IAEA released a report saying that Iran was still blocking nuclear inspectors from the United Nations from visiting for a second time a site known as Parchin military complex, where Iran was not legally required to allow inspections at all. IAEA Director-General Mohamed El-Baradei said in the report, "Iran's full transparency is indispensable and overdue." Separately, Iran confirmed that it had resumed the conversion of new quantities of uranium pursuant to its rights under the NPT, despite an IAEA resolution to stop such work. CNA

January, 2006: Iran provides the European negotiating side with a six-point proposal, which includes an offer to again suspend uranium enrichment for a period of 2 years, pending the outcome of continued negotiations. The offer is dismissed by the Europeans, and not reported in the Western press.^[52]

January 31, 2006: The IAEA reports that "Iran has continued to facilitate access under its Safeguards Agreement as requested by the Agency ... including by providing in a timely manner the requisite declarations and access to locations" and lists outstanding issues.^[53]

January 2006: The New York Times reporter James Risen published State of War, in which he alleged a CIA operation code-named Operation Merlin backfired and may have helped Iran in its nuclear programme, in an attempt to delay it feeding them false information.

February 2, 2006: Pakistani Finance Minister Sirajul Haq: "Attack on Iran will be construed as attack on us"^[54]

February 4, 2006: The IAEA votes 27-3 to report Iran to the United Nations Security Council. After the vote, Iran announced its intention to end voluntary co-operation with the IAEA beyond basic Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty requirements, and to resume enrichment of uranium.^[55] Iran then prevents IAEA inspectors from visiting facilities where Iran is manufacturing centrifuges, making it impossible for the IAEA to verify whether centrifuges are being manufactured to be transferred to an undeclared, secret facility^{[citation needed]}.

March, 2006: The U.S. National Security Strategy decried Iran, stating that "Iran has violated its Non-Proliferation Treaty safeguards obligations and refuses to provide objective guarantees that its nuclear programme is solely for peaceful purposes."^[56]

March 15, 2006: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reaffirms Iran's commitment to developing a domestic nuclear power industry.^[57]

March 27, 2006: In a Foreign Policy article entitled "Fool Me Twice", Joseph Cirincione, director for non-proliferation at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, claimed that "some senior officials have already made up their minds: They want to hit Iran." and that there "may be a co-ordinated campaign to prepare for a military strike on Iran." Joseph Cirincione also warns "that a military strike would be disastrous for the United States. It would rally the Iranian public around an otherwise unpopular regime, inflame anti-American anger around the Muslim world, and jeopardise the already fragile U.S. position in Iraq. And it would accelerate, not delay, the Iranian nuclear programme. Hard-liners in Tehran would be proven right in their claim that the only thing that can deter the United States is a nuclear bomb. Iranian leaders could respond with a crash nuclear programme that could produce a bomb in a few years."^[58]

April 11, 2006: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced that Iran had enriched uranium to reactor-grade using 164 centrifuges. He said, "I am officially announcing that Iran has joined the group of those countries which have nuclear technology. This is the result of the Iranian nation's resistance. Based on international regulations, we will continue our path until we achieve production of industrial-scale enrichment". He reiterated that the enrichment was performed for purely civil power purposes and not for weapons purposes.

April 26, 2006: Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that Americans should know that if they assault Iran their interests will be harmed anywhere in the world that is possible, and that the Iranian nation will respond to any blow with double the intensity.^[59]

April 28, 2006: The International Atomic Energy Agency hands a report titled Implementation of the NPT Safeguards Agreement in the Islamic Republic of Iran to the UN Security Council.^[60] The IAEA says that Iran has stepped up its uranium enrichment programmes during the 30 day period covered by the report.^[61]

June 01, 2006: The UN Security Council agrees to a set of proposals designed to reach a compromise with Iran.^[62]

July 31, 2006: The UN Security Council gives until August 31, 2006 for Iran to suspend all uranium enrichment and related activities or face the prospect of sanctions.^[63] The draft passed by a vote of 14-1 (Qatar, which represents Arab states on the council, opposing). The same day, Iran's U.N. Ambassador Javad Zarif qualified the resolution as "arbitrary" and illegal because the NTP protocol explicitly guarantees under international law Iran’s right to pursue nuclear activities for peaceful purposes. In response to today’s vote at the UN, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that his country will revise his position vis-à-vis the economic/incentive package offered previously by the G-6 (5 permanent Security council members plus Germany.)^[64]

September 16, 2006: (Havana, Cuba) All of the 118 Non-Aligned Movement member countries declare supporting Iran's nuclear program for civilian purposes in their final written statement [23]. That is a clear majority of the 192 countries comprising the entire United Nations.

[edit] See also

• AIPAC espionage scandal
• Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
• 13 steps, Article 6 of the NPT (disarmament pledge)
• Operation Merlin
• Petrodollar warfare
• Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty
• Global Nuclear Energy Partnership
• Ali Larijani, Iran's nuclear negotiator [24]
• Iranian Nuclear Crisis
• Iran and weapons of mass destruction
• Military of Iran
• Atomic Energy Organization of Iran
• Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Israel
• United States-Iran relations

[edit] References

Iranian Ambassador Javad Zarif's statement to the UN Security Counsel http://www.un.int/iran/statements/securitycouncil/articles/69.pdf

[edit] External links

• Iranian nuclear crisis at Discourse DB
• PBS - Iranian journalist Maziar Bahari on the Similarities Between U.S. and Iran, September 2006.
• Iran needs nuclear energy, not weapons, Le Monde diplomatique, November 2005 - questions whether Iran's nuclear program was really clandestine as commonly claimed.
• [25] Ambassador Javad Zarif's statement to the UN Security Counsel in response to the resolution requiring Iran to suspend enrichment, July 31 2006.
• No Proof Found of Iran Arms Program, August 2005.
• Forced to Fuel (Harvard Int'l Law Review, Vol. 26 No. 4 - Winter 2005) lays out the case for nuclear energy in Iran, by Prof. Muhammad Sahimi.
• BBC In-depth: the Nuclear Fuel Cycle.
• Blast from the Past: Articles about US-European nuclear cooperation with Iran in the 1970s.
• Rhetoric of War: First Iraq, Then Iran - Analyzes the fallacies and rhetoric for a pre-emptive war coming from the Bush administration.
• The Shah: America's Nuclear Poster Boy
• Brasil Follows Same Nuclear Path As Iran
• Nuclear program for electricity in the Muhammad Reza Pahlavi times
• Text of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)
• Setting the Record Straight about Iran's Nuclear Program
• IAEA and Iran
• "The Latest Developments and Attempts Regarding the Iran’s Nuclear Dossier", Arzu Celalifer
• The Persian Puzzle I: Iran and the invention of a nuclear crisis (First of a three-part series written in September 2005 by respected Indian analyst, Siddharth Varadarajan)
• The Persian Puzzle II: What the IAEA really found in Iran
• The Persian Puzzle III: The world must stand firm on diplomacy
• Iran: Tehran Threatens To Retaliate If Israel Strikes Nuclear Facilities
• BBC Iran Nuclear Issue Timeline
• Iran's Nuclear Program. Part I: Its History
• Iran's Nuclear Program. Part II: Are Nuclear Reactors Necessary?
• Pars Times - Iran Nuclear Resources
• BBC - UN probe backs Iran nuclear claim
• Iran's Atomic Energy Organization
• Taking aim at Iran, Sunday Times, March 13, 2005
• Countering the Iranian Nuclear Threat from the United States Department of State
• Oxford Research Group - Iran's Nuclear ActivitiesPDF
• William O. Beeman. U.S. Instigated Iran's Nuclear Program 30 Years Ago, Pacific News Service, January 30, 2006.
• Daniel Joyner. The Iran Nuclear Standoff: Legal Issues, JURIST, March 1, 2006.
• Arjun Makhijani. Iran is being asked to forgo its inalienable right to nuclear energy under Article 4, CounterPunch, March 4, 2006.
• Ardeshir Ommani. U.S.-EU tag team: Destroying the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), CounterPunch, March 4, 2006.
• Dr. James Gordon Prather's archives on Iranian nuclear program
• Video (10 minutes), Jon Snow of British Channel 4 TV interviews Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, live in Tehran, March 6, 2006.
• Video of Representative Ron Paul R-TX on the Iran Nuclear impasse
• Iran’s Nuclear Program and Allegations on U.S. Military Attack Option
• Iran and Iraq: The Shia Connection, Soft Power, and the Nuclear Factor U.S. Institute of Peace Special Report, November 2005
• Iran: Consequences of a War, Paul Rogers, Oxford Research Group
• Iran Focus
• A Nuclear Test for Diplomacy, the article in The Washington Post by Henry A. Kissinger
• Diplomacy Monitor-Iran Nuclear
• The Irania nuclear threat - project of Omedia
• Iran’s Maneuvers and the Shahab Missiles