Akbar Etemad

Akbar Etemad
Born (1930-02-03) February 3, 1930
Hamadan, Iran
Alma mater Lausanne University
Occupation Nuclear energy consultant
Known for President of Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran

Akbar Etemad was the president of the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran from 1974 to 1978.[1][2] He is popularly called the father of Iran's nuclear program.[3]

After the 1979 Iranian revolution, he left Iran and established office in Paris and worked there as a nuclear energy consultant. As of 2009, he was the co-chair of Iranians for Peace.[2]

Early life and career

Etemad was born on February 3, 1930 in Hamadan. He got a diploma in electrical engineering from Lausanne University in 1957. He received an M.Sc. in 1958 and a Ph.D. in reactor physics from Lausanne University in 1963. He worked for Brown-Boveri ( Brown, Boveri & Cie.) in Switzerland as a research engineer for one and a half years. He also worked for the Swiss Federal Institute for Reactor Research as the chief of its nuclear shielding group for five and a half years.[4] He returned to Iran in 1965. In 1968 he joined the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of Iran as Deputy minister for research. In 1973 he was appointed chancellor of the French language Bu Ali Sina University.[5] In a meeting with the prime minister of Iran Amir Abbas Hoveida, Etemad proposed that an independent national organization for scientific research needed to be established. Hoveida approved the proposal and Etemad was made the head of Iran's Institute for Planning and Research in Science.[6] On April 10, 1974 he was appointed Deputy Prime Minister of Iran and the first president of its atomic energy organization.[4][7] After becoming the president he ensured that all decision-making powers were given to him, right from the budget to the selection of staff. The AEOI did not have to report its expenditure to the government instead a single report was submitted to the treasury at the end of every year.[8]

The Shah had set the target of producing 23,000 Megawatts of electrical energy from nuclear sources within the next twenty years.[9] In July 1974, a nuclear deal worth US$130 million was signed between Iran and United States.[10] He had once asked the Shah if he wanted to build a nuclear bomb, to which the Shah replied that doing so would only isolate Iran from the rest of the world.[11] In October 1975, he refused that Iran had signed a uranium deal worth US$7 million with South Africa.[12] After he was accused of mismanagement and embezzlement in October 1978, he resigned from the post of the president of the Atomic Energy Organization.[13][14] After the 1979 Iranian revolution that led to the formation of a new government, Etemad left Iran for Paris. The new leaders asked him to return but he refused.[3] During the Gulf War, Saddam Hussein attempted to persuade him to work for Iraq but he refused saying "'as long as you are fighting my people I wouldn't come to Iraq. You are my enemy".[3]

Interview by Maziar Bahari

In September 2008, the transcript of his interview conducted by Maziar Bahari was published in the New Statesman entitled "The Shah's plan was to build bombs."[1] Maziar Bahari wrote that Etemad had confided in him that the Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran intended to make nuclear weapons with Iran's civilian nuclear program.

After the interview was published, Mr. Etemad wrote a letter to the New Statesman which appeared in the print edition of the Dec 1, 2008 issue of the magazine, in which he vociferiously denied the claim attributed to him by Maziar Bahari:

The title "The Shah's plan was to build bombs" is misleading. I told Mr Bahari that I had to know what the shah had in mind regarding the nature of the nuclear programme. I also said that during a long discussion, the shah told me that Iran did not need nuclear weapons, because our strong conventional forces would guarantee our security and national interests.

In an interview given to British Broadcasting Corporation in March 2013, he had said that "neither Israel or the US are in a position to attack Iran".[3]

References

  1. 1 2 Maziar Bahari (11 September 2008). "The shah's plan was to build bombs". New Statesman. Retrieved 21 May 2014.
  2. 1 2 "Akbar Etemad". Iranian.com. 1 February 2009. Retrieved 21 May 2014.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Malik, Zubeida (28 March 2013). "The man who turned Iran nuclear". British Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
  4. 1 2 "U.S. Embassy Tehran Airgram A-69 to State Department" (PDF). U.S. Embassy in Tehran. May 11, 1977. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
  5. ↑ "Akbar Etemad" (PDF). Foundation for Iranian Studies. Retrieved 22 May 2014.(subscription required)
  6. ↑ Patrikarakos 2012, pp. 17-18.
  7. ↑ Alvandi, Roham (2014). Nixon, Kissinger, and the Shah: The United States and Iran in the Cold War. Oxford University Press. p. 132. ISBN 0199375704.
  8. ↑ Patrikarakos 2012, pp. 21–22.
  9. ↑ "A History of Iran's Nuclear Program". iranwatch.org. March 1, 2012. Retrieved 22 May 2014.
  10. ↑ "Iran signs uranium agreement". The Index-Journal (Greenwood, South Carolina). 1 July 1974. p. 1. Retrieved 16 January 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ↑ "Institute for Science and International Security – Nuclear Weapons Programs – Iran". Institute for Science and International Security. Retrieved 21 May 2014.
  12. ↑ "Iran Negotiates for Uranium". Santa Cruz Sentinel (Santa Cruz, California). 16 October 1975. p. 23. Retrieved 16 January 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ↑ "Atomic Energy Organization of Iran – Iran Special Weapon Agencies". globalsecurity.org. Retrieved 21 May 2014.
  14. ↑ "Political upheavals hit Iran's nuclear programme". New Scientist 80 (1131): 667. 30 November 1978.

Bibliography

External links

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