Iran’s Nuclear Program

Iran’s Nuclear Program

BASIC has been tracking and commenting upon the issues related to Iran’s nuclear program since 2003. Concerned at the consequences for proliferation stemming from Iran’s lack of full disclosure on past activities, the IAEA Board of Governors and the UN Security Council have been attempting to prevent Iran from developing a full fuel cycle, but Iranian authorities have resisted.
The E3+3 countries (United States, United Kingdom, France, Russia, China, and Germany) concluded negotiations with Iran on a Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in July 2015. Now all sides are focused on the future implementation of the deal.
BASIC is looking to encourage all sides to recognize the dangers of proliferation, but also to see how the current approaches to the problem could simply be exacerbating the conflict. BASIC staff has close contact with officials in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Iran.

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BASIC is developing new approaches to overcome states’ dependency on the doctrine of nuclear deterrence, which blocks global nuclear disarmament and drives proliferation. 

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What next after the Iran Nuclear Deal?

The Iran nuclear deal is seen by many as a success for international relations and security. Implementation Day (16th January) came after years of intensive negotiations. Iran has reduced activities that could have been used to develop nuclear weapon capabilities and the E3+3 has responded by lifting many of its sanctions. There remain severe doubts and enemies of the deal in the United States, Iran and neighbouring states. There are likely to be developments in the region that could put the agreement under further pressure.

Preventing an Iranian bomb: the case against threatening military action

As the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on Iran’s nuclear program moves into its implementation phase, many are watching with a careful eye to see if and how it will succeed. Western skeptics are undoubtedly waiting to say, “I told you so” if Iran gets caught red handed developing a nuclear weapon capability. Others may be worried about the future, ten years from now when some of the constraints imposed by the deal expire, and how we will contain Iranian ambitions at that point.

Archive Programmes

BASIC believes in making progress on nuclear disarmament, arms control, and non-proliferation through multiple complementary approaches. We continuously develop our programmes – streams of research – through sustained engagement with a wide range of stakeholders, collectively searching for the art of the possible.

Our archive programmes are listed below. Browse our archive programmes page by clicking here.

Current Programmes

BASIC believes in making progress on nuclear disarmament, arms control, and non-proliferation through multiple complementary approaches. We continuously develop our programmes – streams of research – through sustained engagement with a wide range of stakeholders, collectively searching for the art of the possible.

Our current programmes are listed below. Browse our current programmes page by clicking here.

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