HNMUN 2014 Committees: Security Council - Iran Nuclear Program

One of the most prominent items on the agendas of the United Nations Security Council is the question of the Iranian nuclear program. Until the Iranian Revolution in 1979, Western Powers including the United States had supported the Iranian Nuclear Program. The revolution, though, put an to the previously peaceful relations between Iran and the Western. While the relationship improved until around the year 2000 because of more liberal political powers in Iran, conservative, anti-western forces regained their power in Iran. In 2003, the IAEA began investigating in Iran after reports about the construction of Iranian nuclear facilities had become public. Iran agreed in the so-called "Teheran Declaration" to cooperate with the IAEA. However, according to an IAEA report Iran had breached "its Safeguards Agreements with respect to the reporting of nuclear material and its processing and use, as well as the declaration of facilities where such material has been processed and stored." Diplomatic consultations followed and under the terms of the Paris Agreement, on 14 November 2004, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator announced a voluntary and temporary suspension of its uranium enrichment program and the voluntary implementation of the Additional Protocol, after pressure from the United Kingdom, France, and Germany acting on behalf of the European Union (known in this context as the EU-3).

In 2005, however, after the election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as President of Iran, the circumstances worsened as Iran failed to comply with the provisions of the Paris Agreement. It is disputed whether or nor Ahmadinejad is responsible for this development. Subsequently, the Board of Governors of the IAEA decided to report Iran to the Security Council. As a consequence Iran decided to withdraw from the previous Safeguard Agreements concluded with the IAEA. The Security Council demanded Iran to suspend all nuclear activities in the legally binding Resolution 1696. After Iran failed to comply with this Resolution, Resolution 1737 (23 December 2006) imposed sanctions on Iran. In the following years an interplay between heavier sanctions and the refusal of Iran followed. Latest IAEA reports suggest that Iran is increasing its nuclear efforts, while it still remains unclear if Iran is also producing nuclear weapons.

The objective of the delegates in this committee will be to continue to negotiate on a solution of the issue of the Iranian nuclear program with the goal to ease the tension this issue creates in the region. Attention must be given in particular to recent developments. Delegates must be aware that the Security Council is a crisis committee that also deals with live developments.

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