The victory of the Iranian revolution in 1979 transformed the strategic nuclear cooperation between Tehran and Western capitals into a major factor of differences for 40 years, and as soon as the signing of the nuclear agreement in 2015 contributed to reducing tension, the crisis returned to its first square after the withdrawal of US President Donald Trump from the agreement in 2018.

The Iranian nuclear program began in the 1950s, after US President Dwight Eisenhower's speech entitled "Harnessing the Atoms for Peace" to the United Nations General Assembly in 1953, which led to Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi signing a cooperation agreement with the United States in 1957, according to which Tehran obtained On technical nuclear aid from Washington.

The strategic cooperation between the United States, France and Germany, separately with Iran, culminated in the establishment of the Tehran Center for Nuclear Research in 1967, whereby Washington provided the center with a research reactor with a capacity of 5 megawatts, until the nuclear program was subjected to inspection and investigation by the International Energy Agency in 1968 after the signing of the regime. Shah the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

Freeze the program

Relations between Western countries deteriorated with Tehran after the victory of the Iranian revolution in 1979, and reached a rift between the United States and the Islamic Republic after a group of revolutionary students stormed the US embassy in Tehran and detained 52 members of the American mission’s staff and diplomats for 444 days, which led to the withdrawal of companies. Western from the Iranian nuclear projects.

People walking in front of a mural painted on the wall of the former US embassy in Tehran (Reuters)

With the exacerbation of internal crises in Iran, the departure of many atomic scientists, and the Baath regime in Iraq at the time waging a war against it, revolutionary leaders found themselves facing the priority of defending the country's sovereignty without continuing nuclear projects.

The phase of freezing the Iranian nuclear program did not last long, as the developments of the Iraqi war and the reluctance of many Western and Eastern countries to supply Iran with deterrent weapons changed the intellectual and religious convictions of the clerics in Tehran in light of the calls for the revival of the nuclear program, which led to the authorization of the revolution leadership in 1981. Conducting research in nuclear energy developed into the resumption of cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency after nearly two years.

Secret activity

In the 1990s, Iran faced very difficult conditions to develop its nuclear program due to the opposition of Western countries, led by the United States, and the lack of cooperation by other parties with Tehran, which led the latter to seek new allies and partners for its nuclear program.

With the exception of Russia, which formally cooperated with the Iranian side, some eastern countries preferred to cooperate secretly with Tehran.

With the escalation of talk about unofficial Pakistani and Chinese cooperation with the Iranian nuclear program, allegations spread about the existence of undeclared nuclear activities in Iran, which the latter denied and summoned inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency to visit its nuclear facilities.

Iranian workers during the cornerstone laying ceremony for the second unit of the Bushehr nuclear power plant in November 2019 (Reuters)

Although the report of the International Agency in 1992 confirmed the peacefulness of Iran's nuclear activities, its report following the visit of its former director, Mohamed ElBaradei in 2003 to Iran, was negative about Tehran's cooperation with the agency, especially its failure to disclose a uranium enrichment facility in Natanz and another for heavy water in Arak. This constituted a fundamental turning point in the escalation of differences over the Iranian nuclear program with the West.

The beginnings of the crisis

In 2003 Iran entered into negotiations - led by the current President Hassan Rouhani, who was the Secretary-General of the Supreme National Security Council - with the European Troika to de-escalate its nuclear program, which culminated in the signing of the "Saadabad" agreement, according to which Tehran froze uranium enrichment in all its nuclear facilities in a manner. It was voluntary, and soon after it ratified the Additional Protocol to the NPT.

Saadabad failed the following year when the International Atomic Energy Agency called on Tehran to answer all outstanding questions, to facilitate immediate access to all the sites it wanted, and to freeze all activities related to uranium enrichment at a level that would allow the production of nuclear fuel and fissile charge.

After Iran resumed uranium enrichment, the file of the Iranian nuclear program was transferred from the International Atomic Energy Organization to the UN Security Council. To make matters worse, Tehran’s response to the suspension of the Additional Protocol and all forms of voluntary cooperation.

The Security Council votes to approve the nuclear agreement with Iran in 2015, after years of discussing the file (Reuters)

And the ball of tension rolled in the Iranian nuclear stadium, especially after the arrival of the conservative Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to power, which led to the imposition of 7 UN resolutions against Tehran.

The tension reached its peak in 2009 when American and European reports spoke of Iran building the "Fordo" nuclear reactor near the city of Qom, south of Tehran, without informing the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Tension remained the master of the situation until Tehran announced its enrichment of uranium by 20% in 2010, and as a result, all negotiations that were held in Istanbul (2011), Baghdad (2012) and Almaty (2013) failed to reach a satisfactory solution for the Iranian parties and the international six-party which includes the five permanent members. Security Council and Germany.

The nuclear deal

Shortly after winning the 2013 presidency, the current Iranian President Hassan Rouhani responded to the offer of former US President Barack Obama to direct negotiations between them to reduce tension over the nuclear program.

After arduous negotiations that lasted about a year and a half between Iran and the International Six-Party, the two parties signed in 2015 the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on the Iranian nuclear file.

The nuclear agreement provides for the gradual and conditional lifting of sanctions on Iran in exchange for guarantees that it will not seek to supply nuclear weapons, which Tehran stresses repeatedly that it has not and will not seek to acquire nuclear weapons based on a religious fatwa from the Iranian guide, Ali Khamenei.

Trump withdrawal

About 3 years after the signing of the nuclear agreement, US President Donald Trump announced his country's withdrawal from it on May 8, 2018, and imposed a series of sanctions against many Iranian sectors under the pretext that the agreement was "bad and flawed in its essence," but he announced his readiness to negotiate an agreement. New, which was rejected by Tehran.

Trump signs the decision to withdraw the United States from the nuclear deal with Iran (Reuters)

Former US President Barack Obama expressed his disappointment with the decision of his successor, Trump, considering the move a "grave mistake". The American withdrawal also angered both Moscow and Beijing, as well as the European troika's criticism of the American move.

Tension returns

A year after the American withdrawal from the nuclear agreement, Tehran announced 5 steps during which it gradually retreated from implementing its obligations under the nuclear agreement, until it announced on January 5, 2020 the suspension of all its commitments therein, and threatened to withdraw from the NPT if the file of its nuclear program was referred. To the Security Council for its cutting back.

Rouhani affirmed his country's determination to fully implement its commitments in the nuclear agreement in the event that the other parties implement their obligations in it (Getty Images)

The American withdrawal and the Iranian steps contributed to the return of tension again, but Tehran continued to confirm from time to time its intention to return to full implementation of its commitments in the nuclear agreement, provided the European and American parties fulfill their pledges in it.

Following the victory of the Democratic candidate, Joe Biden in the US presidential elections 2020, he confirmed the possibility of his country returning, in consultation with its allies, to the nuclear agreement and expanding it to include the Iranian missile program, which Tehran responded by saying that it would only negotiate Washington's return to the nuclear agreement within the framework of the "5 + 1" group. .