{"id":7035,"date":"2013-11-15T21:26:09","date_gmt":"2013-11-16T02:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.journals.law.harvard.edu\/ilj\/?p=7035"},"modified":"2013-11-19T00:16:59","modified_gmt":"2013-11-19T05:16:59","slug":"7035","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/ilj\/2013\/11\/7035\/","title":{"rendered":"Stalled Iran Nuclear Talks Highlight Divergent Interpretation of the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty"},"content":{"rendered":"

Posted by Ashley Belyea – November 15, 2013 @ 21:26.<\/p>\n

On November 10, 2013, talks on the future of Iran’s nuclear program stalled between Iran and the P5+1\u2014the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Russia, China, and Germany.\u00a0 Negotiators were unable to conclude an interim agreement governing Iran\u2019s nuclear program.\u00a0 The process is not dead, however; low-level negotiators are set to resume talks on November 20<\/a>.\u00a0 \u00a0At issue is Iran\u2019s insistence on its right to enrich uranium for nuclear fuel production<\/a>. \u00a0The United States, on the other hand, \u201cdoes not believe there is an inherent right to enrichment.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0Diplomatic and political concerns loom large, but the disagreement has its roots in treaty interpretation.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s assertion of a right to enrich for energy production invokes<\/a>\u00a0and tracks the language of the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (\u201cNPT\u201d)<\/a>, to which it is a party<\/a>.\u00a0 Article IV of the NPT reads: \u00a0\u201cNothing in this Treaty shall be interpreted as affecting the inalienable right of all the Parties to the Treaty to develop research, production and use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes without discrimination and in conformity with Articles I and II of this Treaty.\u201d\u00a0 The right to \u201cdevelop research, production and use of nuclear energy,\u201d Iran argues<\/a>, includes the right to enrich uranium for fuel production.<\/p>\n

For its part, the United States may be relying on three parts of Article IV to deny Iran\u2019s right to enrich.<\/p>\n