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Foreign Suppliers to Iran's Nuclear Development

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Foreign Suppliers to Iran's Nuclear Development

Milling

Yazd:

  • In 1987, Argentina's Applied Research Institute (INVAP) concluded an agreement to provide Iran with a pilot-scale mill. This project was cancelled by Argentine President Carlos Menem in 1992.[1]

Unspecified Locations:

  • Under a protocol to the 1/95 Russian-Iranian nuclear accord, the two countries agreed to prepare and sign a contract for the supply of 2,000 t of natural uranium to Iran. However, this aspect of the deal may have been cancelled.[2]
  • European officials state that South Africa provided Iran with a large quantity of yellowcake in 1988-89. South African officials denied the statement, saying it had cancelled the deal.[3]
  • In the 1970s, South Africa signed a confidential contract to supply yellowcake to Iran, but it is not known whether any material was delivered under this agreement.[4]

Notes:

  1. "INVAP Fears Bankruptcy after Shipment Is Halted," Nuclear Engineering International 37 (June 1992), p. 12; "Argentina Strikes a Deal with Iran," Nuclear Engineering International 32 (July 1987), p. 4; Richard Kessler, "General Atomic, INVAP Explore Research Reactor, Nuclear Ties," Nucleonics Week, April 4, 1992, p. 15.

  2. Michael Eisenstadt, Iranian Military Power: Capabilities and Intentions (Washington, D.C.: The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, 1996), p.106; "Russian Contract Extended to Fuel," Nuclear News, October 1995, p. 47.

  3. SAPA News Agency, February 21, 1996; in "South Africa: Energy Minister Says No Uranium Sent to Iran in Last Five Years," BBC Monitoring Summary of World Broadcasts (February 2, 1996); Edyth Bulbring, The Sunday Times, August 20, 1995; in FBIS-TAC-95-016-L (20 August 1995); Mark Hibbs, "Bonn Will Decline Teheran Bid to Resuscitate Bushehr Project," Nucleonics Week, May 2, 1991, p. 17; Michael Eisenstadt, Iranian Military Power: Capabilities and Intentions (Washington, D.C.: The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, 1996), p. 108.

  4. Leonard S. Spector, Nuclear Ambitions, (Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1990), p. 205.

Prepared by Michael Barletta and Christina Ellington, November 1998
© Center for Nonproliferation Studies, Monterey Institute of International Studies.


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