Our Publications
Policy Briefs
October 6, 2014
Warning flags went up in Israel and Congress last week, after nuclear talks with Iran ended again in failure on September 26. On September 29, in an address to the U.N. General Assembly, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Iran was trying to “bamboozle its way to an agreement that will remove sanctions […] and leave it with the...
Policy Briefs
September 30, 2014
Talks on a comprehensive nuclear agreement with Iran continued last week in New York, although any progress achieved was apparently not enough to justify elevating negotiations to the foreign minister level. Officials from both the P5+1 states and Iran voiced hope that a deal was within reach while also cautioning that the remaining details could...
Policy Briefs
September 22, 2014
Talks resumed on Tehran’s nuclear program last Friday on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York. These negotiations – the first high-level talks since an interim nuclear accord was extended in July - come amid renewed pessimism that the parties will be able to reach a deal by the November 24 deadline.
Policy Briefs
September 12, 2014
According to the latest report by the International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran has failed once again to answer the Agency’s questions about suspicious experiments with high explosives and studies on neutron initiators – both of which have decided nuclear weapon applications. This refusal is likely to diminish the chance of progress in the next...
Policy Briefs
November 25, 2013
Reactions to the recently-announced interim nuclear deal between Iran and the P5+1 have ranged across the spectrum, from cautious but hopeful optimism to skepticism and condemnation. The agreement calls for a six-month freeze of Iran’s uranium enrichment above the 5% level, dilution of Tehran’s existing stocks of 20% enriched uranium, and enhanced...
Policy Briefs
November 13, 2013
The second round of serious negotiations on the nuclear issue between Tehran and the West since the surprise election of President Rouhani last summer ended without a deal. Iran and the P5+1 states left Geneva empty-handed yet seemingly closer to a nuclear accord that at any time in the last decade.
Policy Briefs
August 9, 2013
On June 14, 2013, Hassan Rouhani won Iran’s presidential election; he was sworn in on August 4. Rouhani has been described as a relative moderate among the candidates competing for the presidency. His victory was greeted with caution by the United States and its partners. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said that the United States is "ready...
Policy Briefs
November 8, 2011
On November 8, 2011, the International Atomic Energy Agency reported that Iran has covertly engaged in activities that suggest it is trying to build a nuclear weapon, and that some of these activities may be ongoing. According to the report, Iran has had an undeclared program to produce nuclear material, and has undertaken procurement, production...
Policy Briefs
May 17, 2010
On May 17, 2010, Iran, Turkey and Brazil signed a joint declaration agreeing to a nuclear fuel swap that was first proposed to Iran by France, Russia and the United States last fall. Under the new agreement, Iran would export 1,200 kg of its low enriched uranium (LEU) stockpile to Turkey within one month. Iran would then receive 120 kg of uranium...
Policy Briefs
February 7, 2010
On February 7, 2010, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced that Iran would begin producing up to twenty percent enriched uranium in order to fuel its Tehran Research Reactor (TRR). The next day, Iran told the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that this work was planned for the Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant (PFEP) at Natanz and that...