Our Publications
Policy Briefs
September 25, 2009
On September 25, 2009, the United States, the United Kingdom, and France revealed that Iran had been building a clandestine uranium enrichment plant, and called for an immediate inspection of the site by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Agency inspectors visited the plant one month later, and their preliminary findings were reported...
Policy Briefs
February 2, 2009
On February 2, Iran joined the exclusive club of countries that have succeeded in placing a satellite in orbit. Iran launched its Omid satellite atop a two-stage rocket, the Safir-2, from Iran's space center in the Semnan Province, southeast of Tehran. The launch has alarmed the world because the same rocket Iran used to propel its satellite could...
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...
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...
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...
Policy Briefs
December 3, 2007
The declassified summary of a new U.S. National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iran, released on December 3, 2007, concludes with "high confidence" that Iran's efforts to build a nuclear weapon were suspended in 2003, a reversal of previous intelligence estimates that Iran was actively pursuing such weapons. If Iran were to restart its nuclear...
Policy Briefs
November 1, 2007
The six-member Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) proposed to create a multinational consortium to provide enriched uranium to Iran and to other users of the material in the Middle East. Under the plan, first reported on the Middle East Economic Digest (MEED) web site in November 2007, a uranium enrichment plant would be established in a neutral...