Our Publications
Articles and Reports
September 29, 2008
The coverage of the latest bombastic tour of Manhattan by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran may have obscured the fact that the International Atomic Energy Agency has released its latest report on Tehran's nuclear program, and it contains some unpleasant news: By the time we inaugurate our next president, Iran is likely to achieve "virtual"...
Speeches and Testimony
May 20, 2008
For over a decade, we have seen a consistent push by industry to weaken U.S. controls on the export of militarily sensitive technologies. Though tasked with protecting U.S. national security, successive administrations have succumbed to the pressure to "modernize" export controls and to make them less "burdensome" and more "efficient." The result...
Policy Briefs
April 8, 2008
Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad marked Iran's national nuclear day, April 8, 2008, with an announcement that the country had started installing 6,000 additional centrifuges at the Natanz uranium enrichment complex. During a tour of the site, Ahmadinejad viewed P-1 centrifuges, of which some 3,000 machines are currently operating. View...
Policy Briefs
March 3, 2008
On March 3, 2008, the U.N. Security Council adopted a third resolution (U.N. Security Council Resolution 1803) imposing sanctions on Iran for its refusal to freeze uranium enrichment. Fourteen countries voted in favor of the resolution and one country (Indonesia) abstained. The resolution authorizes inspections of cargo to and from Iran that is...
Policy Briefs
February 22, 2008
On February 22, 2008, the International Atomic Energy Agency reported that Iran had failed to clear up questions about military links to its nuclear work. Iran has refused to explain intelligence pointing to secret efforts to process uranium, test high explosives and work on a missile warhead design. Combined, these activities are applicable to...
Roundtables
February 6, 2008
Since the autumn of 2003, when the scope of Iran's illicit nuclear activities became public, Britain, France and Germany (the "E3") have led negotiations aimed at limiting the scope of Iran's nuclear program. For several years, this diplomatic initiative was the only concerted effort made to ascertain whether Iran would be willing to freeze its...
Policy Briefs
February 4, 2008
Iran fired a research rocket on February 4, 2008, from a new space center in the Semnan Province, southeast of Tehran. According to Iran, the rocket, called the Kavoshgar-1 [Kavosghar], or Researcher-1, was test fired in preparation for the launch, planned in June, of Iran's first domestically made satellite. Iran claimed that Kavoshgar...
Articles and Reports
January 1, 2008
In mid-October, the U.S. Commerce Department began to implement a new program to reduce controls on the sale of militarily useful American products to China. For the first time, certain companies in China are being allowed to receive such products from the United States without obtaining an export license that would otherwise be required. The...
Policy Briefs
December 16, 2007
On December 16, 2007, Russia began delivering uranium fuel to Iran for its Bushehr nuclear power plant. According to the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, eight consignments totaling some 82 tons of nuclear fuel enriched to between 1.6% and 3.6% Uranium-235 were delivered by late January 2008. This is the amount necessary for the reactor's...
Articles and Reports
December 6, 2007
On Monday the United States intelligence community issued what everyone agrees was blockbuster news: a report stating that in the autumn of 2003, Iran halted its nuclear weapons program. The National Intelligence Estimate has been heralded as a courageous act of independence by the intelligence agencies, and praised by both parties for showing a...