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Dominique Lorentz is a French investigative journalist who has written books on the stakes and reality of nuclear proliferation, as well as a film documentary, La République Atomique ("The Atomic Republic"), which related terrorist acts in France in the 1980s to the nuclear program of Iran.
Her work details various types of state cooperation (economic, technological, military and diplomatic) over the years, and a systematic analysis of foreign leaders' and analysts' speeches and writings. She mainly analyze open sources (newspaper, specialized reviews, official reports, news agencies' cables, biographies, etc.) in order to put facts in perspective and retrace the thread of the history of nuclear proliferation. Lorentz demonstrates that proliferation is not mainly the work of isolated individuals, but is an explicit result of the geopolitical strategy of various governments. She shows that after World War II, when the United States considered it too dangerous to directly help other countries in developing nuclear technology (which was thought as a deterrent to any Soviet offensive), it charged France with the job. Thus, France helped other countries in developing nuclear technology, starting with Israel. This, according to Lorentz, explains how 44 states today have the capacity of developing weapons of mass destruction.
One of the important points of her investigation concerns the link between the Eurodif (European Gaseous Diffusion Uranium Enrichment Consortium ) affair and a series of terrorist acts in France. Eurodif is a joint stock company created in the 1970s, involved in uranium enrichment, in which Iran had a 10% share. According to Dominique Lorentz, the (mainly) French-Iranian civil nuclear partnership, started in 1974, dissimulated a military aspect which was supposed to help Iran acquire the atomic bomb through its investment which guaranteed Tehran enriched uranium supply.
However, after the 1979 Iranian revolution, France ended this cooperation program and blocked Iran's investment. Following this perspective, 1985 and 1986 events such as the French hostage affair in Lebanon; bombings in Paris (in the FNAC store at the Hôtel de Ville and at Pub Renault); the 17 November 1986 assassination of Georges Besse (one of the most important responsible of the French nuclear program, who finally became Eurodif's leader) and the February 1987 death of Michel Baroin, president of the GMF (Garantie Mutuelle des Fonctionnaires) in a plane crash, were all allegedly part of a terrorist Iranian campaign to blackmail France in order to recover its debt from the Eurodif's investment. The first French payment back to Iran of 330 million dollars was done on the same day that Georges Besse was murdered, and the second one on December 1987, after Michel Baroin's death.
On 5 May 1988 the last French hostages from Lebanon arrived in Paris. The first ones had been taken hostage in spring of 1985. The next day, Matignon published an accord signed by French premier Jacques Chirac and his Iranian counterpart. Against the return of the last hostages, Paris agreed to accept Tehran back in its share-holder status of Eurodif and to deliver it enriched uranium "without restrictions".
On 3 February 1989 Roland Dumas, minister of Foreign Affairs, officially visited Tehran. In September 1989, president François Mitterrand charged François Scheer of negotiating an accord putting a definitive end to the Eurodif disagreement. On 29 December 1991 this secret accord was signed by president Mitterrand, definitively reestablishing Iran in its Eurodif's share-holder rights, notably of the right to perceive 10% of the enriched uranium. During this ten-years crisis, Iran acquired various nuclear installations (reactors, equipment to enrich uranium, etc.) from states such as Germany, Argentina, China or Pakistan.
On 8 January 1995 Russia signed a nuclear cooperation treaty with Iran, concerning in particular the Bushehr Nuclear Power Facility. Two years later, France signed an accord to deliver enriched uranium to Russia, while the Russian cooperation with Iran was being enforced.
The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, commonly known as the Non-Proliferation Treaty or NPT, is an international treaty whose objective is to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology, to promote cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, and to further the goal of achieving nuclear disarmament and general and complete disarmament. Between 1965 and 1968, the treaty was negotiated by the Eighteen Nation Committee on Disarmament, a United Nations-sponsored organization based in Geneva, Switzerland.
Nuclear proliferation is the spread of nuclear weapons, fissionable material, and weapons-applicable nuclear technology and information to nations not recognized as "Nuclear Weapon States" by the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, commonly known as the Non-Proliferation Treaty or NPT. Proliferation has been opposed by many nations with and without nuclear weapons, as governments fear that more countries with nuclear weapons will increase the possibility of nuclear warfare, de-stabilize international or regional relations, or infringe upon the national sovereignty of nation states.
Iran has several research sites, two uranium mines, a research reactor, and uranium processing facilities that include three known uranium enrichment plants.
Iran is not known to currently possess weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and has signed treaties repudiating the possession of WMD including the Biological Weapons Convention, the Chemical Weapons Convention, and the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Iran has first-hand knowledge of WMD effects—over 100,000 Iranian troops and civilians were victims of chemical weapons during the 1980s Iran–Iraq War.
Eurodif, which means European Gaseous Diffusion Uranium Enrichment Consortium, is a subsidiary of the French company Orano, which operates a uranium enrichment plant established at the Tricastin Nuclear Power Center in Pierrelatte in Drôme. The nuclear site of Pierrelatte includes many nuclear installations, of which the largest are the Eurodif fuel factory and the Tricastin nuclear power station.
Georges Besse was a French businessman who helped lead several large state-controlled companies. He was assassinated outside his Paris home by the armed group Action directe while he was the CEO of car manufacturer Renault.
A nuclear fuel bank is reserve of low enriched uranium (LEU) for countries that need a backup source of LEU to fuel their nuclear reactors. Countries that do have enrichment technology would donate enriched fuel to a "bank", from which countries not possessing enrichment technology would obtain fuel for their power reactors.
French–Iranian relations are the international relations between France and Iran. Iran has generally enjoyed a friendly relationship with France since the Middle Ages. The travels of Jean-Baptiste Tavernier are particularly well known to Safavid Persia. France has an embassy in Tehran and Iran has an embassy in Paris.
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1747 was a United Nations Security Council resolution, written with reference to some IAEA reports, that tightened the sanctions imposed on Iran in connection with the Iranian nuclear program. It was adopted unanimously by the United Nations Security Council on 24 March 2007.
This is the timeline of the nuclear program of Iran.
The Tricastin Nuclear Power Plant is a nuclear power plant consisting of 4 pressurized water reactors (PWRs) of CP1 type with 915 MW electrical power output each. The power plant is located in the south of France at the Canal de Donzère-Mondragon near the Donzère-Mondragon Dam and the commune Pierrelatte.
Iran's nuclear program is made up of a number of nuclear facilities, including nuclear reactors and various nuclear fuel cycle facilities.
This timeline of nuclear weapons development is a chronological catalog of the evolution of nuclear weapons rooting from the development of the science surrounding nuclear fission and nuclear fusion. In addition to the scientific advancements, this timeline also includes several political events relating to the development of nuclear weapons. The availability of intelligence on recent advancements in nuclear weapons of several major countries is limited because of the classification of technical knowledge of nuclear weapons development.
Brazil–Iran relations are the bilateral relations between the Federative Republic of Brazil and the Islamic Republic of Iran. Relations are characterized by economic and diplomatic cooperation and are quite friendly. Iran has a productive trade balance with Brazil. The two governments signed a document to bolster cooperation during the G-15 Summit in Tehran in 2010. However, since the election of former Brazilian president, Dilma Rousseff, relations between the two countries recently have deteriorated greatly, following Rousseff shifting Brazil away from Iran due to Iran's violation of human and civil rights. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's media adviser, Ali Akbar Javanfekr, was quoted as stating that Rousseff had "destroyed years of good relations" between them. He denied making such a statement.
Events in the year 2010 in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Views on the nuclear program of Iran vary greatly, as the nuclear program of Iran is a very contentious geopolitical issue. Uriel Abulof identifies five possible rationales behind Iran’s nuclear policy: (i) Economy, mainly energy needs; (ii) Identity politics, pride and prestige; (iii) Deterrence of foreign intervention; (iv) Compellence to boost regional influence; and (v) Domestic politics, mitigating, through 'nuclear diversion' the regime’s domestic crisis of legitimacy. Below are considerations of the Iranian nuclear program from various perspectives.
On 24 November 2013, the Joint Plan of Action, also known as the Geneva interim agreement, was a pact signed between Iran and the P5+1 countries in Geneva, Switzerland. It consists of a short-term freeze of portions of Iran's nuclear program in exchange for decreased economic sanctions on Iran, as the countries work towards a long-term agreement. It represented the first formal agreement between the United States and Iran in 34 years. Implementation of the agreement began 20 January 2014.
The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, commonly known as the Iran nuclear deal or Iran deal, is an agreement on the Iranian nuclear program reached in Vienna on 14 July 2015, between Iran and the P5+1 together with the European Union.
This article discusses the negotiations between the P5+1 and Iran that led to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
The history of France's military nuclear program recounts the path that led France to develop a military nuclear program after World War II. The establishment of the French Nuclear Deterrence Force was based on a French nuclear testing program that began on February 13, 1960, and ended on January 27, 1996.