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Intel - History
Iran Nuclear Standoff

"In God we trust.
All others we monitor."

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• NPR: A Short History of the Spread of Nuclear Weapons

Khomeini shut down the Iranian nuclear program

• John Jennekens, deputy secretary general of the IAEA, "nothing we have seen proves that there is any activity here against the peaceful principles of nuclear policy."
• Jennekens said his group was "offered every assistance and ready access" to Iranian facilities and scientists.

• Iran's Atomic Energy Agency made the following statement: "As a rule, we have confined our nuclear activities within the framework of the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. We continue to do so. As far as nuclear matters are concerned, Iran has been compelled to establish the fact that all allegations leveled against its nuclear activity are without foundation."

• The Iranian Vice President (for nuclear energy) Reza Amrollahi, told a Tehran Atomic Energy Organization meeting that construction of the Bushehr power plant, (left unfinished by German corporations after the Islamic revolution), is underway again.

• Amrollahi said everything was on schedule. He also noted that uranium resources have been located in Saghand, central Iran, and in Bandar Abbas.

• In accordance with its standard practice, the Agency took baseline environmental samples at PFEP at Natanz before nuclear material was introduced in the facility.

• This baseline sampling campaign was conducted during inspections carried out between March and June 2003, and samples were taken at many locations within the facility.

• KHAMEINI ISSUED FATWA BANNING NUCLEAR WEAPONS In September 2004, in an effort to guide hde Iranian Parliament in an ongoing debate on whether or not to pass legislation banning nuclear weapons in Iran, Khameini issued a fatwa, or religious edict, during Friday Prayers in which he stated that the production, stockpiling, and use of nuclear weapons were forbidden under Islam and that the Islamic Republic of Iran would never acquire  these weapons. [source: Target Iran, p. 170] 

• CIA ON IRAN AND NUKES What made it particularly dangerous was the CIA's belief that Iran had a serious nuclear development program underway, and no one was quite sure who controlled  the program or the site at any given moment. If Al Qaeda was getting into Iran, then either the government or some important faction was aiding them...Washington suddenly faced the possibility that Al Qaeda might be given nuclear weapons by someone in Iran...The possibility that nuclear weapons would be transferred to Al Qaeda was an absolutely intolerable risk to the United States, next to which all other considerations were inconsequential...This was the origin of the famous Axis of Evil. [source: America's Secret War, p. 210, p. 219] 

• Analysts say there are too many factories, labs and reactor sites dispersed too widely across the country. According to a 2006 paper published by two MIT doctoral candidates (one of the most thorough pieces of analysis available), it would be impossible for Israel to knock out the entire Iranian nuclear program but the target set could be narrowed to the most critical facilities.

• These revelations eventually led to United Nations Security Council's imposing sanctions on Iran on December 23, 2006, over its nuclear program.

• President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says Iran needs 50,000 centrifuges to enrich enough uranium to provide fuel for its nuclear power plants. The Iranian President said Wednesday the centrifuges are needed to make Iran self-sufficient in nuclear fuel production." Those with ill intentions toward the Iranian nation had warned to condemn us if we increased the number of our centrifuges to more than 164," Ahmadinejad said."

• However, we have started the industrial production of nuclear fuel," he continued. The President added that if Iran were to 'shut down work based on their request, it would be impossible to restart it'. His remarks came a day after US President George W. Bush said Iran should comply with the 'international community's request for Tehran to halt its uranium enrichment program'. According to the IAEA the Islamic Republic has reached its medium-term goal of building 3,000 centrifuges at its Natanz facilities.