In The Iranian Nuclear Crisis: A Memoir, Seyed Hossein Mousavian gives us a rich history of Iran’s nuclear programme and describes his own attempts to achieve a “grand bargain” with the West. He offers a combination of text book and personal accounts but, more importantly, a political analysis of the behavior of all actors involved both past and present.
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.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will hold its fall Board meeting this week, and as usual Iran’s nuclear program will be on the agenda. Though some news reports have played up the Agency’s latest assessment as final proof that Iran is on the fast track to a nuclear weapon, others have pointed out that the IAEA’s indicators reveal a program that is moving more slowly
When the U.N. nuclear watchdog Director General Yukiya Amano reported to the IAEA Board of Governors this week, updating about Syrian and Iranian atomic activities, Paul Ingram, BASIC's executive director said "There is little in Amano's report that would enable the United States or other nations to press for new Iranian sanctions" ...."Tehran is already subject to four rounds of U.N. Security Council resolutions and independent penalties from a number of nations."
"Unfortunately, the nuclear capability of Israel goes unmentioned in his article, highlighting the Arab contention that the West is guilty of double standards by shielding Israel but punishing Iran."
Excerpt from article by BASIC Program Director Anne Penketh, written for The Hill’s Congress Blog.
