U.S. Opposition to Iran's Membership in International Fusion Project

The ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) is an international research project in the field of nuclear energy based in France. Since the implementation of the JCPOA, Iranian officials have promised to join this project, but now, the Science magazine cites Iranian and European officials stating that Iran's membership is facing opposition from one of its members, the United States. According to Ali Akbar Salehi, head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, Iran's membership process was progressing well until Donald Trump was elected president of the United States. Salehi added that Iran's top priority is to 'maintain the integrity of the JCPOA.' The magazine reports that some minor collaborations between Iran and Europe in the nuclear field are ongoing, but by joining ITER, Iran aims to enhance the knowledge of its students and scientists in this area. One of these individuals, Mahmoud Ghoreh-Naviz, head of the Plasma Physics Center in Iran, told Science that if initial membership is converted into full membership over the years, it could channel significant investment into this research. Ghoreh-Naviz added that 'there is no secret in nuclear fusion, but for us (Iran), science and politics are mixed.' We discussed the importance of Iran's nuclear cooperation and membership in ITER with Mark Fitzpatrick, executive director of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in Washington. Why is joining a project like ITER important, and why is Iran pursuing this membership, which, according to some unconfirmed reports, faces U.S. opposition? One of the main goals of the nuclear agreement reached in 2015, from Iran's perspective, was to normalize its nuclear program and legitimize it in the eyes of the world, allowing it to operate normally in the realm of nuclear trade and cooperation. Iran's long history of deception and violations of agency safeguards had diverted it from the main line. In recent years, Iran has attempted to improve this position. Therefore, Iran's effort to join the ITER consortium has a symbolic aspect. The JCPOA explicitly states that other countries will cooperate with Iran in nuclear technology. Refusing to accept Iran's membership request in ITER contradicts such a provision. How do you think Iran has not protested this issue so far or even raised it as a violation of the other party's commitments? Iran has made claims about violations of commitments in other areas of this agreement, including actions to discourage trade and commerce with Iran. American officials, including some senior officials, have unfortunately taken steps to deprive Iran of some benefits of the JCPOA. As a result, there is no shortage in Iran to claim violations of commitments by the U.S.; even their claims have been exaggerated. This specific issue regarding nuclear cooperation, I think, has not yet been considered by Iranian officials enough to turn it into a political issue, which might be a good thing for technical people in Iran. They probably want to resolve this issue without attracting political attention and may think they can join ITER before it becomes politicized. It is true that the agency oversees Iran's program, but from a transparency perspective, does opening the way for these collaborations and the entry of various organizations and groups, especially in the field of technology and nuclear security, not help to clarify Iran's program more? I think you pointed to an important point. Transparency is the goal of the international community regarding Iran's nuclear program, and cooperation in nuclear security and other collaborations that are not related to militarization technologies helps encourage transparency. However, there is another side to the coin: for years, under sanctions imposed on Iran for violations of safeguards, advanced countries have tried to block Iranian students' access to nuclear expertise. Their reasoning was that any knowledge in this area could have applications in weapon production and could be an indirect use. Because learning nuclear energy does not necessarily help produce weapons, but increasing knowledge in plasma physics and advanced technologies that can be obtained, including through ITER, may provide knowledge and expertise that could potentially lead to weapon production in a hypothetical scenario.