CND welcomes the ceasefire between Israel and Iran, which comes after successive warnings from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that Iran’s nuclear facilities were suffering ‘severe damage’ from the illegal attacks of Israel and the United States.
Israeli and US attacks on Iranian nuclear plants are prohibited under international law and the Geneva Conventions which set out the rules for the conduct of wars.
During the 12 day period Israel targeted:
- Iran’s Fordow and Natanz fuel enrichment plants
- Isfahan and Tehran nuclear research facilities
- the Arak heavy water reactor
- the Karaj Agriculture and Medical Research Centre which uses nuclear technology to enhance soil quality, and improve agricultural and livestock production, and
- the Bushehr nuclear power plant.
IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said a strike against Bushehr could cause its reactor core to melt, triggering a regional catastrophe. Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani had previously warned that a successful attack would ‘entirely contaminate’ the waters of the Gulf and threaten life in Qatar, the UAE and Kuwait.
Throughout the hostilities, Grossi confirmed that there was no evidence Iran was developing nuclear weapons. He told the UNSC: ‘The IAEA can guarantee, through a watertight inspections system, that nuclear weapons will not be developed in Iran.’
President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu authorised strikes on nuclear targets despite the clear and unambiguous illegality of such an attack under international law, and IAEA assurances that Iran was not developing nuclear weapons
Trump also ignored the testimony of his Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, to Congress in March that Iran’s stocks of enriched uranium did not mean it was building nuclear weapons.
We also cannot ignore the nuclear hypocrisy surround this conflict. Israel is the only country in the region to possess nuclear weapons, is an undeclared nuclear weapons state that refuses to sign the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), and does not permit IAEA inspections of its nuclear facilities.
In contrast, Iran has been a signatory to the NPT since 1970. Iran insists its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes and has emphasised its willingness to return to its JCPoA obligations if sanctions are lifted. It is therefore deeply concerning that Iran’s parliament has drawn up a bill to withdraw from the NPT.
Ensuring this fragile ceasefire lasts is vital. Nuclear negotiations with Iran must be reopened and IAEA inspections resumed as a matter of urgency.
However, beyond this, the double standards of nuclear weapons states must also end. Instead of meeting their international obligations under the NPT to disarm their nuclear weapons, nuclear weapons states, are rearming them. For instance, Britain has just announced a huge nuclear expansion through the purchase of nuclear-capable fighter jets from the US. Britain also justifies using its nuclear weapons against countries that don’t have them, that are signed up to the NPT, but are in breach of their obligations. Such nuclear threats are far more likely to drive non-nuclear weapons states to getting such weapons. These dangerous nuclear double standards must end.