Iran Has a Right to Enrich—And America Already Recognized It

Iran Has a Right to Enrich—And America Already Recognized It

Nov 19, 2013 02:00 am | Muhammad Sahimi

Muhammad Sahimi

The recent intensive negotiations in Geneva between Iran and P5+1—the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany—over Iran’s nuclear program did not result in an interim agreement. The negotiations are to be resumed in Geneva on November 20. One of the thorniest issues is Iran’s claim that, as a signatory of Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), it has, under Article IV of NPT, a fundamental right to accessing all aspects of nuclear technology for peaceful uses, including uranium enrichment on its soil. So far the United States has refused to explicitly recognize Iran’s right to uranium enrichment. In her testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on October 3, Undersecretary of State Wendy Sherman, who leads the U.S. delegation in the Geneva negotiations, made the following statement:
read morehttp://nationalinterest.org/commentary/iran-has-right-enrich%E2%80%94-america-already-recognized-it-9425