ISIS: Avoid Legitimizing Iranian Enrichment

The U.S. and its partners are pursuing engagement with Iran, including arrangements for dealing with Iran's uranium stockpile in ways that increase barriers between Iran and a nuclear weapon.  David Albright, Paul Brannan and Andrea Stricker of the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), a Ploughshares grantee, released a report cautioning policy makers from inadvertently legitimizing Iran's uranium enrichment program.  

The report is a response to ISIS learning of a proposal that has been circulated among Western states to come to an agreement with Iran regarding fuel for their nuclear reactor in Bushehr.  Allegedly, some of these states are considering arrangements for sending Iranian low enriched uranium to Russia for conversion and fabrication into nuclear reactor fuel.  

ISIS concludes, "this newer variation is unlikely to help achieve the goal of stopping Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons" because it does not address or curb the existence of Iran's domestic enrichment capabilities.  With these capabilities, Iran would be able to quickly reestablish its uranium stockpile or, given a decision to do so, begin a crash program for a nuclear weapon.  

According to the report, "the proposal also undermines the central goal of several United Nations Security Council resolutions aimed at obtaining a suspension of Iran’s centrifuge program prior to negotiating a path to achieve confidence that Iran is not seeking nuclear weapons."

After describing in detail the problems inherent in this proposal, the ISIS report recommends that the P5+1 (the group of countries negotiating with Iran, including the US, UK, Russia, China, France, and Germany) and its partners should support the current arrangement in which Russia supplies the fuel for the Bushehr reactor.  The report goes on to recommend that "If Iran refuses, then the P5+1 should focus on further isolating and politically pressuring Iran, bolstering sanctions, and focusing on efforts to limit Iran’s ability to expand its centrifuge program."