International Luxembourg Forum Working Group Meeting

Luxembourg Working Group Discusses Ways to Resolve Iranian Nuclear Crisis

On April 14, 2008, Russian and U.S. experts from the Luxembourg Forum on Preventing Nuclear Catastrophe gathered in Moscow to convene their first meeting this year to discuss a new UN Security Council resolution on Iran and the current state of the Iranian nuclear crisis.

The meeting discussed all aspects of the Iranian threat, including possible implementation of the UN Security Council's March Resolution No. 1803, IAEA efforts and the positions taken by Russia, the U.S., China and Middle Eastern nations on resolving the existing situation.

The experts considered various ways to facilitate a resolution to the Iranian crisis, which continues to be fuelled by the defiant and hostile reaction of Iran's leadership to the UN Security Council's recent demand that it abandon uranium enrichment.

The meeting focused on political and diplomatic ways to address the issue, in particular the possibility of recognising Iran's nuclear status, following the announcement by its president that the country has developed civil nuclear technologies. Such recognition would be subject to Iran's ratification of the NPT Additional Protocol, strict compliance with the protocol's provisions and wider IAEA inspection powers, as well as more severe financial sanctions against Iran should it breach the recent UN Security Council Resolution. Also under discussion were the consequences of various military actions, whether envisaged by the UN Charter or taken unilaterally.

As an outcome of the meeting, the working group will issue a memorandum providing an assessment of the situation and offering possible ways to resolve the Iranian nuclear crisis given the current environment.