I. Iran and nuclear proliferation concerns

Chapter:

7. Nuclear arms control and non-proliferation

Source:

SIPRI Yearbook 2014

Author(s):

Shannon N. Kile

In 2013 there was a breakthrough in diplomatic efforts aimed at resolving the controversy over the scope and nature of Iran's nuclear programme. The controversy had arisen in 2002 when evidence of undeclared Iranian nuclear facilities was first made public and raised international concern about Iran's compliance with its commitments under the 1968 Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (Non-Proliferation Treaty, NPT).¹ The United Nations Security Council subsequently adopted five resolutions demanding that Iran suspend its uranium-enrichment programme, halt its construction of a heavy-water nuclear reactor and related projects, and ratify and bring into force an additional protocol to its comprehensive safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).² In November 2013 negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 states (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council—China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States—plus Germany), which had been held sporadically since 2006, produced an interim agreement that set out an approach for reaching a long-term comprehensive solution to the long-running dispute over Iran's nuclear programme.