IRAN-PhysiciansforGlobalSurvival.ppt

IRAN Unwelcome member to the Nuclear Club References The Iran Threat by Alireza Jafarzadeh The Devil We Know by Robert Baer Democracy in Iran by Ali Gheissari and Vali Nasr “A Roundtable on Nuclear Issues in Relation to Iran” (working paper) by Project Ploughshares, Mennonite Central Committee Canada, and the Iranian embassy Objectives Political evolution Bid for nuclear energy: consistent with the NPT? New regional power in a post-Cold War world What can be done to avert an escalating conflict with Iran and further regional destabilization? Reza Shah Pahlavi 1925-1941 Foreign intrigue and territorial threats Victim of superpowers The last Shah of Iran Return to the Monarchy Nuclear energy in Iran Iranian Revolution 1979 Hostage Crisis Iran-Iraq War Reform and changing society Pres. Rafsanjani and the “second” republic 1989: economy vs. ideology US imposes oil and trade sanctions against Iran 1995 Khatami presidency 1997-2005 IAEA inspections 2003, Security Council Ahmadinejad elected president 2005 Who calls the shots? “Islamofascism”? Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Commits non-nuclear weapon states to abstain from obtaining nuclear weapons Requires that the IAEA oversees the nation member’s nuclear activity Guarantees the “inalienable” right to peaceful uses of nuclear energy, provided the member adheres to the full treaty Says that nuclear weapon states must eventually achieve nuclear disarmament Nuclear fuel supplier club “We are not questioning [Iran’s] right to civil nuclear power…But because...they were not clear with the IAEA, that civil nuclear power cannot include the ability to enrich and reprocess on Iranian territory, because when you learn that you’ve learned the key technology to making a nuclear weapon.” U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, April 19, 2006 A Question of Trust There is “…a basic hypocrisy on the part of nuclear powers: they retain their own arsenals while denying others the same right”. (John Deutch, US gov defense and securi