Iran's nuclear enrichment program is under close scrutiny from the international community, but the country's government officials insist that its nuclear program is for peaceful civilian purposes only. BASIC monitor's Iran's nuclear program and international responses to Iran's nuclear activities. Read below for the country report summaries from the Getting to Zero updates in reverse chronological order.
Israel
Middle East free of nuclear weapons can become reality
BASIC's program director, Anne Penketh, discusses the security risks in the Middle East and the prospects of a WMD-free zone treaty in the region in this article for The National. She writes, “A WMD-free zone in the Middle East would take years to negotiate, but the alternatives, including possible military action against Iran, are chilling. This is not about only the security of a region, but of the world.”
Themes arising from the BASIC Workshop in Doha
About 50 participants – representatives of Gulf states and experts from the region, and U.S. and European experts and officials, exchanged views on Nuclear Non-Proliferation in the Gulf during a conference on March 21st and 22nd. The workshop highlighted a number of themes, including: justice and rights, disarmament, universality and the health of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and Iran.
Time to reframe the debate on the Iranian nuclear programme
In this Open Democracy article, BASIC's executive director, Paul Ingram urges us to move away from traditional Cold War thinking and the dichotomy of us versus them. He explains that in order to properly address the issue of nuclear nonproliferation, we must reframe the debate on the Iranian nuclear weapons programme.
Spotlight on Iran’s nuclear program
This week begins with Iranians celebrating their national day of nuclear technology today… and ends on Friday and Saturday with long-awaited critical talks between Iran and the E3+3 in Istanbul. Some may view the Iranian national day as a deliberately provocative act, but that would be to misunderstand the politics.
Hopes rising for Mideast WMD meeting
Amid rising optimism about the prospects for convening a 2012 conference on establishing a zone free of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in the Middle East, Finnish diplomat Jaakko Laajava is to deliver his first briefing to states-parties to the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) in Vienna next month on his efforts to pull the meeting together. Anne Penketh reports on where things stand in the April edition of Arms Control Today.
Prospects for progress on Iran’s nuclear file
The stand-off over Iran’s nuclear programme is fraught with danger, with Israel and U.S. presidential candidates urging tougher action. Military action poses an inherent risk to the global non-proliferation regime, in particular if it were unilateral action by Israel, a non-NPT state acting to punish a member-state for apparently transgressing it.
Nuclear weapons conference could bring Iran and Israel together
Diplomatic Editor of The Guardian, Julian Borger, wrote the following article on the planned 2012 Conference on a WMD-free zone in the Middle East and what it could bring to the region. Mr. Borger quotes Paul Ingram, who said: “When you start a process like this, with clear objectives, it is amazing how it evolves. The process itself builds confidence and improves the atmosphere. Also, ordinary Israelis now recognise that a zone free of nuclear weapons is preferable to a region with two or more weapons states.”