Irans nuclear program david albright and andrea stricker since the 1970s, even before the revolution, iran has sought access to the technology that would give it the option to build a nuclear bomb, should it believe its security situation requires it. Most russian experts now believe that iran is advancing toward a military nuclear weapons program though it has not made a final decision to go all the wayand a ballistic missile program to accompany it. Strategic perspectives 9 national defense university press. Iran intensified its drive toward nuclear weapons in the 1980s during the iran iraq. Why would russia, chinaand iranplan joint naval exercises. While this assistance ended with the 1979 iranian revolution, iran remained interested in nuclear technology and developed an extensive nuclear fuel cycle, including sophisticated enrichment capabilities. Iranian leaders advanced irans nuclear weapons program in the 1990s and early 2000s along with its civil nuclear program, using the latter as a symbol of national pride. The united states announced its withdrawal from the joint comprehensive plan of action jcpoa, also known as the iran nuclear deal or the iran deal, on may 8, 2018. Russian approaches towards the iranian nuclear programme. Russias new position on irans nuclear program creates iran. David albright, an expert on irans nuclear program and president of the institute for science and international security, estimates iran is producing roughly 2.
The origins at bushehr the bushehr saga began in august 1992 when, as part of a longterm trade and cooperation program, two russian iranian agreements on the construction of a nuclear power plant in iran and on the peaceful uses of nuclear en. Pdf irans nuclear program muhammad tehsin academia. Ferguson science and technology fellow capsule history iranian nuclear program dates back at least to. Moscows decision to toughen its approach to iran on the nuclear issue is. Lightwater nuclear reactors are considered more proliferationresistant than other types of reactors. Iranian agents may secretly seek aid from nuclear ex perts, answers to key questions confronting their covert program at training courses and seminars in russia.
Russia sees these programs as a threat to its interests. The participation of the united states and western european governments in irans nuclear program continued until the 1979 iranian revolution that toppled the last shah of iran. Status congressional research service summary iran s nuclear program began during the 1950s. Irans nuclear program was launched in the 1950s with the help of the united states as part of the atoms for peace program. Russianiranian nuclear cooperation the 1998 moscow summit. Iran is a traditional partner and a good neighbour of russia. United states withdrawal from the joint comprehensive plan. The deal allowed iran to produce nuclear fuel after 2030. Furthermore, a nuclear armed iran could destabilize the situation in the middle east. The foundation of iran s nuclear program can be traced to extensive chinese and russian cooperation in the 1990s, according to a former u. This research is aimed at obtaining a comprehensive understanding of the nuclear issue and its linkage to regional security. Argentina, belgium, the united kingdom, germany, india, italy, china, pakistan, poland, russia, the united states, france, south africa and north korea.
Iran agreed to limit its nuclear development program in return for the end of economic sanctions. China, russia, iran, and north korea increasingly use cyber operations to threaten both minds and machines in an expanding number of waysto steal information, to influence our citizens, or to disrupt critical infrastructure. Russias position on irans nuclear program the washington. As stated by some government experts, a nuclear iran could be expected to. Though the iranian nuclear program has been the subject of detailed forensic public analyses, much less detailed attention has been paid, in public at least, to the iranian missile program. Senate committee that there is evidence of interaction between russian individuals and iranian nuclear research centers on a range of activities outside the scope of the bushehr projectactivities that iran. Constraining irans future nuclear capabilities brookings institution. Understanding the revitalization of russianiranian. At present, china and russia pose the greatest espionage and cyber attack threats, but we anticipate that. Russia suspends project with iran due to uranium enrichment russia s staterun nuclear fuel company says it has suspended a project with iran. In case of a conflict, bushehr might become a target.
On july 14, 2015, the united states, the eu, russia, china, and iran signed the joint commission plan of action. Russia, iran, and the nuclear question army war college. They denied that irans nuclear program ever had a military purpose despite. Russiairan relationship is a marriage of opportunity. If iran severs ties with the iaea to or below the prejcpoa levels, it might complicate this cooperation. Jul 14, 2015 the following is the text of the july 14, 2015 joint comprehensive plan of action between the islamic republic of iran and china, france, germany, the russian federation, the u. Under the 2015 deal between iran and six world powers britain, china, france, germany, russia and the united states tehran agreed to limit its nuclear program in return for the lifting of. The jcpoa and changing dimensions of the russiairan relations. War, following reports of an iraqi clandestine nuclear program. Work on nuclear projects that had been ongoing under the shah, such as construction of the bushehr nuclear power plant was suspended.
Nuclear cooperation would consist of constructing nuclear power plants for iran, cycling nuclear fuel, supplying research reactors, re. Irans construction of gas centrifuge uranium enrichment facilities is currently the main source of proliferation. And enhanced contact between the two countries on regional issues may benefit the iranian authorities. The russian government opposes iranian acquisition of nuclear weapons, believing that such a development would drastically change the balance of power in the region, and not in moscows favor. Russia is ambivalent about the prospect of a nucleararmed. Defending against iranian missile threats without diluting. Russias worrying involvement in irans nuclear program. Iranian nuclear program writings by gatestone institute. Russia s and iran s shared security interests include preventing any outside military attack against iran. Us renews sanctions on irans nuclear program, threatens.
Mar 26, 2010 irans revolutionary guards control key sectors of the nuclear program. Tehran concluded with china, france, germany, russia, the united kingdom, and. After repeated harassment and intimidation, married couple azita rafizadeh. Irans nuclear program helped by china, russia washington times. A transatlantic strategy on irans nuclear program bits. Russia will supply 100 curies of molybdenum99 and 15 curies of iodine1. All in all, russian position favouring the diplomatic solution to the iranian nuclear issue has been consistent and predates current international setting. Nuclear installations are concealed on military bases, dug into hardened sites built underground, and defended with anti. Russia had cited it as a threat to its nuclear deterrent. But the united states had wanted russia to abandon the bushehr project altogether, arguing that moscows assistance would allow iran to acquire expertise and dualuse technology that could aid it in developing a nuclear weapons program. Iran, russia reach nuclear agreement arms control association.
Russia s interests project the russian federation has close and longstanding relations with iran and we would like to use all our resources in order to make the hard dialogue we have today crown with success prime minister of the russian federation dmitry medvedev. And the russian authorities have never concealed their view that a nuclear armed islamic regime on russias southern flank could be far less cooperative in central asia and the caspian basin and could undermine moscows influence in these exsoviet regions. Iran s nuclear program is one of this centurys principal foreign policy challenges. Briefing security council on iran s nuclear programme, undersecretarygeneral reports progress in implementation of comprehensive action plan. The european union and other countries have sought to keep the economic benefits of the jcpoa flowing to iran in order to persuade iran to remain in the accord. Assessment of irans nuclear program press event tuesday, september 14, 2004 dr. Russia iran relations are stronger than they have been historically, wrote andreakendall taylor, director of the transatlantic security program at the center for a new american security, in an. The history of the irans nuclear program the iranian nuclear program dates back to the fifties and sixties, when sha reza pahlavi.
Jul 05, 2011 irans nuclear program helped by china, russia. The iranian nuclear program fact sheet founded in 2006, clarion project is a nonprofit, educational organization providing a platform for human rights activists and for challenging islamic extremism through facts. In 2000, the deputy director for the central intelligence agencys nonproliferation center, a. In fact, russia has traditionally been wary, if not suspicious, of iran s nuclear intentions. In 2016, iran expanded its influence in iraq and syria. Yet it is still too soon to discuss the formation of a new regional partnership or. Both russian and iranian officials said the governments remain engaged in discussions about the possibility that moscow might build additional reactors for tehran. Following russian and iranian agreements furthering their cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy at bushehr, the. This analysis of commercial satellite imagery at tiyas airbase in syria indicates the scope and proximity of russian and iranian military ties.
Two teachers face long prison sentences for educating bahais, who are banned from pursuing further education in iran. The united states developed the european phased adaptive approach epaa missile defense system to defend against a variety of current and future iranian missile threats. The united states has expressed concern since the mid1970s that tehran might develop nuclear weapons. Stopping russian assistance to irans nuclear program was a high priority for the united states throughout much of the. The other track involved a series of proposals to reach a negotiated settlement. Of course, jcpoa did not aim to dismantle iran s nuclear program entirely, only to keep it within the. The participation of the united states and western european governments in iran s nuclear program continued until the 1979 iranian revolution that toppled the last shah of iran. The move was blasted by the eu, russia and china, who were also signatories of the agreement. Briefing security council on irans nuclear programme. Status congressional research service summary irans nuclear program began during the 1950s. In january 2019, the european countries created a trading. These include their inability to agree on how to divide the caspian sea and all the petroleum resources underneath it ever since the breakup of the soviet union, and iranian dissatisfaction with russia for its willingness to limit or even cancel both russian arms sales to and nuclear cooperation with iran. Mar 29, 2007 ivanov added that if, as senior iranian officials are claiming, no kind of military program is on irans nuclear agenda, and the aims of irans nuclear program are strictly for peaceful purposes, there should be no concern on irans part regarding a temporary freeze on uranium enrichment. The iranian nuclear program fact sheet negotiations with the world powers, beginning in 2003 with three european powers great britain, france and germany and later joined by the u.
Tehrans compliance with international obligations congressional research service 2 iran and the iaea agreed in august 2007 on a work plan to clarify the outstanding questions regarding tehrans nuclear program. Moscow is committed to training iranian physicists and technicians for bushehr at the kurchatov institute and the novovoronezh nuclear power plant. Media coverage of iran s nuclear program v executive summary the manner in which news media frame their coverage of iran s nuclear program is critically important to public understanding and to policy decisions that will determine whether the dispute can be resolved without war. Stuxnet targets supervisory control and data acquisition systems and is believed to be responsible for causing substantial damage to the nuclear program of iran. Dilemmas, responses and the future 1 the iranian nuclear issue and security in the persian gulf have long been high on the united nations peace and security agenda. In the april 14 talks in istanbul, russia demonstrated once again that it could be a team player. The iranian nuclear program fact sheet pages 1 11 text. She expressed particular concern that europe and russia cease the supply of dualuse and nuclear weaponsrelated technology to iran. Iran, and provide the crucial factors of the russiairan nuclear program but also. Iran s nuclear program was launched in the 1950s with the help of the united states as part of the atoms for peace program. Russias relations with iran the washington institute. Russia especially for not having done more to shelter irans nuclear program, which these.
Anarak, near yazd, has a nuclear waste storage site arak. May 08, 2018 jcpoa also does not directly address irans missile program russia strongly objected to linking the two but imposes an indirect prohibition on the development of nuclear weapons delivery. This loss, compounded by ayatollah ruhollah khomeinis opposition to nuclear technology, resulted in the near disintegration of irans nuclear program post1979. Should a political decision to purchase iranian fuel be made, for example, by european companies, the iranian nuclear program could move from the political to the commercial level. Although iran claims that its nuclear program is exclusively for. Stuxnet is a malicious computer worm, first uncovered in 2010, thought to have been in development since at least 2005. Mar 01, 2012 most russian experts now believe that iran is advancing toward a military nuclear weapons programthough it has not made a final decision to go all the wayand a ballistic missile program to accompany it. Russia and the iranian nuclear program ndu press national. Russian and chinese cooperation in the 1990s with iran created the foundation of the iranian nuclear program today. Download the brief the issue as tensions escalate between the united states and iran in the middle east, russia is engaged in covert and overt cooperation with iran in ways that undermine u.
Several countries have contributed to the iranian nuclear program since its inception. We are committed to further strengthening the friendly relations with tehran to the benefit of the russian and the iranian peoples, in the interest of strengthening security and mutual understanding in the region. The iranian nuclear programme henry jackson society. Russian diplomacy has tried to avoid this outcome over the years even as it has also sought to discourage iran from pursuing its nuclear enrichment program. Intel agencies update report on iranian nuclear work, global security newswire, 16 february 2011. The us reimposed sweeping sanctions on iran after washington unilaterally left the 2015 joint comprehensive plan of action jcpoa on iran s nuclear program in 2018. Why russia is the big winner of the iran deal fallout. Iran s construction of gas centrifuge uranium enrichment facilities is currently the main source of proliferation. Russia has expressed dissatisfaction with the system, protesting that it presented a significant threat to russia s nuclear. Thanks to president trumps manufactured crisis in the persian gulf after his unilateral withdrawal from the iran nuclear. Iran, russia, iaea, npt, us, geopolitics, nuclear policy. Although neither country has openly admitted responsibility, the worm is widely understood to be a cyberweapon built. Locations of irans nuclear program critical threats. The arak area has several industrial complexes, some with ties to the nuclear program, in particular the ir40 reactor under construction and a heavy water production plant, both near arak.