Excerpts from previous status reports, by subject

Removed on January 31, 2006

Europe's diplomacy with Iran unravels
Iranian and European negotiators met on December 21, 2005 and agreed to resume talks on Iran's nuclear program in January. The talks have been suspended since August. Though the decision to return to the negotiating table is a positive sign, the likelihood that upcoming talks will yield a compromise on the future of Iran’s contentious uranium enrichment plan is slim. No substantive progress on this subject was made at the meeting in December and comments by Iranian officials since then have left little hope that a compromise is possible.

Then, on January 10, Iran removed international seals from uranium enrichment equipment at three sites and resumed “nuclear research” at its pilot centrifuge plant at Natanz The move ended the partial nuclear freeze that had been in place in Iran since October 2003, and left little hope of success for the European-led effort to shut down Iran’s uranium enrichment program through diplomacy. It also reversed commitments Iran had made in an agreement with Britain, France, Germany and the European Union in November 2004, and went against a number of IAEA resolutions, which have called on Iran to re-establish—rather than end—a full suspension of all uranium enrichment activities. The freeze was to have remained in place pending the completion of the IAEA’s investigation of Iran’s illicit nuclear work, which came to light in 2003.

International condemnation of Iran’s enrichment resumption was swift. The United States, Britain, France and Germany, along with the European Union and the IAEA called on Iran to reverse course. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Iran’s move was “a cause for concern,” and promised that Russia would “make an effort to ensure that during the period of negotiations the moratorium is maintained.” An emergency meeting of the IAEA governing board has been called for February 2, at which countries will once again debate Iran’s referral to the U.N. Security Council—a move that now appears more likely to garner majority, if not unanimous support among board members.