The EU and the Iranian nuclear issue

By Dina Esfandiary, Research Analyst and Project Coordinator, Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Programme

The final session of the EU Non-Proliferation Conference, to be held this week in Brussels, will discuss the most pressing problem in the non-proliferation arena at the moment: the Iranian nuclear issue. Three experts will lead a discussion examining the current situation and future policy options for the EU.

This comes just as a team of IAEA experts ended a much-anticipated trip to Iran, which followed the agency’s most damning report to date, in November. ‘Intensive discussions’, characterised as fruitful, were held over three days and the IAEA has announced another visit ‘in the very near future’.

But crucially, the delegation did not visit any nuclear sites. Despite Iranian rhetoric of openness and willingness for a dialogue to take place, including Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi’s stated readiness to extend the experts’ trip if necessary, the Iranian government did not allow them to carry out the discussed visit of the Qom facility. Whether the IAEA was granted access to any of the individuals they sought to interview, such as Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, is doubtful, though that may have been promised for the next visit.

The IAEA inspectors’ visit can be read as an attempt to calm tensions after several weeks of escalation. Having threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, Iran carried out military exercises, tested an advanced surface-to-air missile and a cruise missile, and announced it had developed new laser-guided artillery rounds. These moves were considered a response to US sanctions against Iran’s Central Bank (its strongest round of economic sanctions yet) and the European-wide embargo of Iranian oil imposed by the EU in the past few weeks. Tehran threatened in turn to cut off oil exports to the EU before its sanctions come into effect in July.

EU members are significant stakeholders in the Iranian crisis. Since the revelation of the Natanz nuclear facility in 2002, they have been heavily involved in diplomatic efforts to halt Iran’s nuclear programme. They are now taking a leading role in the imposition of sanctions and are committed to finding a peaceful solution to the Iranian nuclear crisis. During the final session of the conference, participants will have an opportunity to analyse the evolving landscape of the Iranian issue and to share ideas to help find a solution to the impending crisis.

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