Science and Technology in Post-Sanction Iran

The American journal Science reports that the implementation of the nuclear agreement will lead to a flourishing of a new scientific era in Iran. According to Agence France-Presse, the magazine "Science" states that sanctions were imposed to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, but their implementation also deprived Iranian scientists of importing fossils, downloading software, subscribing to international scientific journals, and purchasing necessary equipment from foreign countries. Alan Goodman, president of the Institute of International Education, believes that despite the sanctions, science has progressed in Iran. He stated, "We received a clear message that their science and knowledge are alive and at a desirable level." Goodman traveled to Tehran earlier this year with a group of American university professors to explore ways to increase cooperation with Iranian scientists. Ali Akbar Salehi, head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, says that the assassination of five Iranian nuclear scientists over the past decade has not deterred Iran from pursuing its peaceful nuclear program. He remarked that "these assassinations did not actually create an obstacle to our nuclear activities." He added that "in fact, these assassinations somewhat accelerated this process, as many students studying in other fields changed their major to nuclear science afterward." The report continues that similar situations have occurred in other fields as well. For example, when Iran was unable to import earthquake detection sensors, Iranian scientists designed a domestic equivalent. Mohammad Farhadi, Iran's Minister of Science, Research, and Technology, stated in an article that sanctions "have pushed Iran's knowledge, industry, and service sectors towards new and more effective ways to communicate and forced scientists to work more creatively, establishing a knowledge-based economy for the first time in Iran's history." According to him, Iran is now eager for more international collaboration: "We invite all scientists from around the world to start collaborating with our scientists. Iran is ready." It is expected that Iran's economic sanctions will end by the end of this year. A plan to construct a first-class international observatory in Iran has been approved. Construction of this $30 million project will begin next year. This 3.4-meter optical telescope will have the capability to study gamma rays and exoplanets, search for dark matter, and examine the arrangement of galaxies. Piero Salinari from the Astrophysical Observatory of Florence believes that this project, once completed in four or five years, will be one of the best telescopes in the region. Another major project that will begin construction in 2018 is Iran's first synchrotron (particle accelerator). This $300 million project is considered the largest scientific project in Iran's history. David Attwood, an applied physicist at the University of California, states that the construction of this synchrotron will give Iran the potential to conduct scientific research on a global scale. Iran is also advancing research in stem cells. According to a fatwa by Ayatollah Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, research in this area is permitted, but human cloning remains a red line. As part of the nuclear agreement, the Fordow uranium enrichment center is set to be repurposed into an international research center in the fields of astronomy, nuclear medicine, and nuclear fusion. According to the budget, three percent of Iran's gross national product should be allocated to scientific research, but Vahid Ahmadi, Iran's deputy minister of science, says that "this figure is actually closer to half a percent, which in 2014 amounted to $1.75 billion." Meanwhile, the scientific budget of the United States is $30 billion annually.