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Under the sponsorship and at the invitation of the Center for Strategic Research (CSR) of the Expediency Council of the Islamic Republic of Iran, an International Conference on Nuclear Technology and Sustainable Development was held in Tehran from 5-6 March 2005, with the co-sponsorship of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), and the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology.

Given the controversy over the scope and ultimate aims of Iran’s nuclear program and activities, and the importance for regional and international security of resolving the challenges posed to the nuclear non-proliferation regime by this controversy, the conference could not have occurred at a more critical time.

Some 25 international experts attended the conference, which was presided over by Dr. Mahmood Vaezi of the CSR, and which included the opening keynote address by Dr. Hassan Rohani, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran, and closing remarks from Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Chairman of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Expediency Council. Also attending was a diverse group of more than 40 Iranian participants, including members of the government, scientists, academics, researchers, and journalists.

Pugwash participants at the meeting included Prof. Paolo Cotta-Ramusino (Secretary General), Dr. Jeffrey Boutwell (Executive Director), Dr. Steven Miller (co-chair of US Pugwash and member of the Pugwash Council), and Prof. Saideh Lotfian (chair of Iran Pugwash and member of the Pugwash Council).

The conference consisted of four plenary and four break-out sessions each for two working groups (one on Application of Nuclear Technology in Medicine, Industry and Agriculture, and the second on International Peace and Security: Challenges and Threats), with more than 20 papers given by Iranian and international participants (including all four of the Pugwash participants). The conference was characterized by a very open and candid exchange of views among all participants. Substantive differences of opinion over the nature, rationale and international ramifications of Iran’s nuclear program were aired in both the plenary and break-out sessions, with the result being a genuine dialogue. For more information on the conference sessions and presentations, see the CSR conference website, www.ntsd.ir.

The conference was widely covered by the international media, some of whose reports can be accessed through the web links included with this report.

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In addition to the conference sessions, Cotta-Ramusino, Boutwell and Miller were part of a 7-person group that met for almost two hours with Dr. Rohani during the lunch break on March 6 for a wide-ranging discussion of Iran’s nuclear plans, the Iran-E3 negotiations (with UK, France, and Germany), US-Iran relations, the prospect of Iran’s resumption of uranium enrichment, and the ramifications of IAEA referral of the issue to the UN Security Council. Others in the group included George Perkovich and Joseph Cirincione (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace), Clifford Kupchan (Nixon Center) and Maurizio Martellini (Landau Network – Centro Volta).

Much of the discussion focused on exploring ways that Iran can provide the transparency necessary to ensure the international community that Tehran has no intention of diverting materials from its civilian nuclear energy program for potential military use. Dr. Rohani made it clear that Iran’s current suspension of uranium enrichment activities is just that – temporary – and that Iran intends to follow through with a full civilian nuclear power program, including enrichment, as allowed by Article IV of the Non-Proliferation Treaty. For this reason, he was particularly interested in considering what additional measures of safeguards and transparency Iran could undertake to provide confident reassurance to other states about the peaceful character of Iran’s nuclear program.

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On March 7, Cotta-Ramusino, Boutwell, Miller and Lotfian were part of a group of some 15 conference participants who were flown to Esfahan and given a six-hour tour of the Esfahan Nuclear Technology Center that includes the Esfahan Nuclear Technology/Research Center, the Uranium Conversion Facility (UCF), and the Zirconium Production Plant. It is believed that this tour of the Esfahan nuclear facility was the first ever by a group of international experts, apart from inspections carried out by teams from the IAEA.

The group was given a briefing by the director of the Nuclear Technology Center, and then toured the two main parts of the facility: (1) the UCF, devoted to converting uranium yellowcake to uranium hexafluoride (UF6), whose operations Iran has currently suspended and which is under IAEA safeguards, and (2) the Zirconium Production Plant, which will produce the zirconium claddings which will house the enriched uranium fuel rods destined for Iran’s future civilian nuclear power plants when they become operational (the Bushehr 1000 megawatt reactor is scheduled to come on line in late 2006, with initial fuel provided by Russia).

The group had ample opportunity for discussion with scientists and engineers at the Esfahan facility during the visit.

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The three days spent in Iran provided Cotta-Ramusino, Boutwell, Miller and the other international participants with a unique opportunity to: (1) hear first-hand the economic, development, and energy rationales underlying Iran’s nuclear program from a wide variety of Iranian policymakers and scientists, and (2) convey to the highest Iranian authorities their concerns with the integrity of the NPT and the fate of the international non-proliferation regime. The international conference, the meeting with Dr. Rohani, and the trip to the Esfahan nuclear facility also provided numerous opportunities for exploring ways of strengthening transparency and confidence, through cooperative and multilateral measures, so that Iran’s nuclear program can achieve its stated goal of providing energy and economic development while also fulfilling Iran’s NPT and IAEA obligations.

The Pugwash participants and all international participants expressed their gratitude and appreciation to CSR and their Iranian hosts for convening this extremely important meeting and providing for the site visit to the Esfahan facility. Both were noteworthy for the atmosphere of open, frank and honest exchange of views that took place during this critically important juncture in global affairs.