Although Iran does not yet have nuclear weapons, it possesses the technology to make nuclear warheads, having amassed a stockpile of highly enriched uranium sufficient to fuel weapons. Iran maintains that its nuclear program is peaceful and that it is justified by its membership in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which guarantees its members the right “to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.” However, Iran has conducted decades of covert nuclear activity in violation of its obligations under the NPT.
Iran's nuclear ambitions began under the leadership of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, with the support of the United States and Western Europe. In 1957, Iran and the United States signed a civil nuclear cooperation agreement, as part of President Dwight Eisenhower's "Atoms for Peace" program. This agreement facilitated the transfer of nuclear technology and materials from the United States to Iran for peaceful purposes, primarily for research and for the production of electricity. This led to the construction of Iran's first nuclear research facility in Tehran. In November 1967, the Tehran Research Reactor (TRR) became operational. Iran became one of the original signatories to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) when it entered into force in March 1970, committing as a non-nuclear-weapon state not to pursue the acquisition of nuclear weapons.
By the mid-1970s, Iran's nuclear energy ambitions had grown further. In 1974, the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) was established, and plans were drawn up to produce 23.000 megawatts of electricity through a network of nuclear power plants over a 20-year period. These plans included signing contracts with Western companies. Iran signed an agreement with Kraftwerk Union (KWU, a subsidiary of Siemens) of then-West Germany to build two 1.200-megawatt reactors at Bushehr and negotiated with the French company Framatome to supply two additional 900-megawatt reactors. In 1974, Iran is said to have invested $1 billion in a uranium enrichment plant in France, which was owned by the European consortium Eurodif. Etemad, the chairman of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, also described Iran's domestic efforts to develop the nuclear fuel cycle during the 1970s, including plans for a new nuclear research center in Isfahan, exploration of uranium deposits, and their metallurgical processing.
The Iranian Revolution of 1979 halted this activity for several years. The Shah was overthrown, and Iran's new leaders under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini were initially hostile to nuclear technology, viewing it as a symbol of Western influence. Many nuclear projects were abandoned or cancelled. The war with Iraq, which began in 1980 and ended in 1988, drained the country's resources and damaged its existing nuclear infrastructure. The unfinished reactor site at Bushehr was repeatedly bombed by Iraqi warplanes, and Siemens withdrew from the project, leaving the reactor shells largely destroyed. By the late 1980s, Iran's nuclear program had effectively been suspended.
In the early 1990s, as Iran recovered from the war with Iraq, it restarted its nuclear program, with the help of Russia, China, and Pakistan. With China, Iran signed two nuclear cooperation protocols, in 1985 and again in 1990. In 1995, Iran reached a cooperation protocol with Russia to complete the construction of the reactor at Bushehr and possibly provide a uranium enrichment plant. Some of the items originally included in these agreements, such as the enrichment plant, were never delivered due to pressure from the United States. Others, such as the Bushehr project, were used as an excuse to acquire sensitive equipment that would not be sold separately because of its potential use for nuclear weapons.
In late 2003, it agreed to a degree of cooperation. In October 2003, Iran and the foreign ministers of Britain, France and Germany (the so-called “EU-3”) reached the Tehran Agreement: Iran committed to temporarily suspending all uranium enrichment and reprocessing activities, to allowing tighter controls by signing the Additional Protocol, and to clarifying its past nuclear activities. This agreement, reached just before a deadline set by the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) Board, was intended to build confidence while a long-term solution was negotiated. However, Iran’s cooperation has been lacking.
In July 2006, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1696 under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, requiring Iran to suspend all uranium enrichment-related activities or face sanctions. When Iran defied this demand, the Security Council proceeded to adopt a series of sanctions between 2006 and 2010.
The first step was Resolution 1737, in December 2006, which imposed sanctions on sensitive nuclear and missile programs and banned nuclear-related trade with Iran. This was followed by Resolutions 1747 (2007), 1803 (2008) and 1929 (June 2010), which broadened the scope of sanctions to include an arms embargo, an asset freeze on key individuals and entities, and restrictions on financial transactions.
These measures, supported by the United States, Russia, China and the European Union, aimed to pressure Iran to stop enriching uranium. At the same time, the US and the EU imposed their own tough measures: the US enacted laws penalizing investment in Iranian oil and gas (such as the Iran Sanctions Act of 1996), while Europe restricted trade and eventually imposed an embargo on Iranian oil until 2012.
A major development came in September 2009, when Western leaders uncovered yet another secret Iranian facility. U.S. President Barack Obama, along with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, revealed information about the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant, an underground enrichment facility being built deep inside a mountain near the city of Qom. Iran had not declared Fordow to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), violating its obligation to report new facilities from the planning stage.
The secret construction of Fordow (which began in 2006) and its shielded location fueled fears that Iran was pursuing a covert nuclear weapons program resistant to military attack. Iran defended Fordow as a backup enrichment facility and belatedly declared it to the IAEA, but confidence in Iran's transparency was further weakened. The Fordow revelation strengthened global unity for tougher sanctions, manifested in Resolution 1929 (June 2010), which imposed tighter economic restrictions on Iran.
In 2018, Mossad, the national intelligence agency of the State of Israel, allegedly stole nuclear secrets from a secure warehouse in the Turkuzabad district of Tehran. The stolen documents, shared with the US and Europe, proved that the AMAD program was aimed at developing nuclear weapons and that Iran had a secret nuclear program, despite its claims that it had “limited” it. Iran categorically denies the events as a “plot.” This revelation influenced President Trump’s decision to withdraw from the JCPOA agreement and reimpose sanctions.
In February 2019, the IAEA confirmed that Iran was in compliance with the agreement, but in May 2019 Iran announced a suspension of part of the agreement, threatening further measures if US sanctions were not lifted. In July 2019, the IAEA confirmed that Iran had violated the limits on its stockpile of enriched uranium and its enrichment level. In November 2019, Iran announced uranium enrichment to 5% and the possibility of 20% and later up to 60%, with President Rouhani stating that the nuclear program would be "unlimited".
In January 2020, after the US killed Iranian General Soleimani, Iran stopped complying with any JCPOA limits on enrichment. In 2020, the stockpile of enriched uranium tripled, and there were explosions at nuclear facilities, including the Natanz plant. In November 2020, Iran's top nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who was considered the main architect of the secret nuclear program, was assassinated.
In June 2022, Iran said it would continue its nuclear program until the West changed its “illegal behavior.” In July 2022, an IAEA report said Iran had increased enrichment using advanced equipment at Fordow. In February 2023, the IAEA reported finding uranium enriched to 84%. Iran claimed this was an “unlawful fluctuation,” although it has already enriched uranium to 60%, in violation of the deal.
On June 10, 2025, Trump stated that Iran was becoming "much more aggressive" in negotiations. On June 11, the Iranian regime threatened American bases in the Middle East, with Defense Minister Aziz Nasserzadeh stating: "If a conflict is forced upon us... all American bases are within our range and we will openly target them.." The U.S. embassy in Iraq evacuated all its staff. The Iran-backed Houthi movement in Yemen threatened to attack the United States if Iran was attacked.
On June 12, 2025, the International Atomic Energy Agency found that Iran was not complying with its nuclear commitments for the first time in 20 years. Iran responded by announcing that it would start a new uranium enrichment facility. On the night of the 13th In June, Israel launched Operation Rising Lion, a widespread airstrike targeting Iranian nuclear facilities, missile factories, military bases, and commanders in cities such as Tehran and Natanz.
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