Iran and Iraeli Current Situation Research Paper

Iran and Iraeli Current Situation - Research Paper Example Iranian Nuclear Program - Historical Background Being launched in the 1970s under the Shah, the series of Iran’s ambitious nuclear projects heavily relied on the U.S. and European assistance – Iran had struck a deal with the West-German company, KWU, to build two 1Â  200 megawatt reactors and negotiated the construction of another two 900 megawatt reactors with the French ‘Framatome’ (Iran Watch, 2012). The goal set by the Shah had been for the country to produce over 20Â  000 megawatts of electricity from nuclear power stations within the next twenty years (Iran Watch, 2012). Following the revolution in 1979 and the war with Iraq that started in 1980, the nuclear energy program had been abandoned and the existing infrastructure – considerably damaged. However, since the late 1980s, Iran’s nuclear program had been revived and given a fresh impetus via the assistance from Russia and China (Iran Watch, 2012). ... Q. Khan (Iran Watch, 2012; Cronin, Kronstadt and Squassoni, 2005). Both actual progress and probable scope of Iran’s nuclear program became clear, to a degree or another, in 2003, when the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) conducted a series of safeguards inspections, along with verification of Iran’s activities in the area of uranium enrichment, intended to set off implementation of the NPT Safeguards Agreement in the country (IAEA, 2003). Having found no evidence of activities related to development of nuclear weapons by then, the Agency emphasized the necessity of further inspections, enough time and Iran’s full cooperation, in order to be able to conclude that Iran’ nuclear program is exclusively for peaceful purposes (IAEA, 2003). In 2004, however, Iran was rebuked for failing to cooperate with IAEA’s inquiry and agreed to suspend most of its uranium enrichment activity under a deal with the EU; nevertheless, uranium conversion was resu med at Isfahan plant in 2005, and Iran was accused of violation of NPT (Aljazeera, 2012). From 2005 to 2009, there were a series of breaches in Iran’s promises and the agreements with IAEA concerning the uranium enrichment activities, accompanied by sweeping U.S sanctions against the country, Iran’s rocket-test launches, including such of a of a long-range missile capable of reaching Israel, and a UN Security Council resolution on Iran’s uranium enrichment program (Aljazeera, 2012). Following the new disclosure of an underground enrichment facility at Fordow, nearby Qom, and Iran’s rejection of the international demand for freezing the project, several important developments took place in 2009, including an IAEA report that suggested for the first time Iran might be chasing