Question

How did Iran become a nuclear power- how did they get this technology - fission technology and missile technology?

Answer 1

Under the Shah, Iran has launched a series of ambitious nuclear projects, relying on US and European assistance. According to Akbar Etemad, President of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization (AEOI), Iran was already conducting nuclear research and education at Tehran University from 1974 to 1978, when the NPT entered into force on 5 March 1970. The work centered on a United States-supplied five-megawatt research reactor, which began operation in 1967.

Iran signed two protocols with China on nuclear cooperation, in 1985 and again in 1990. And in 1995, Iran concluded a cooperation protocol with Russia to complete the construction of the Bushehr reactor and possibly supply a uranium enrichment plant. Some of the items originally contemplated in these deals, such as the enrichment plant, were never delivered as a result of US pressure

The difficulty in producing a concentrated amount of uranium 235-the fissile form of uranium needed to fuel a nuclear weapon-is that natural uranium contains only a small amount of this isotope (.7 percent). Production of a concentrated quantity of U-235 requires a series of steps beginning at the mine and ending with production of enriched uranium. In that process, Iran has sought to master every step.

The 2011 IAEA report contained detailed information on Iran's efforts to develop a nuclear weapon, including: computer modeling of implosion, compression, and nuclear yield as recently as 2009;high explosive tests simulating a nuclear explosion but using non-nuclear material to determine whether an implosive device would work;construction of at least one containment vessel at a military level