Russian nuclear and missile exports to Iran

Nonproliferation Review

Volumn 6, Issue 2, 1999, Pages 134-143

  Wehling, Fred ^a  

^a MONTEREY INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL STUDIES   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 85011457516     PISSN: 10736700     EISSN: 17461766     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/10736709908436756     Document Type: Article

References (117)

1. The author gratefully acknowledges Michael Barletta, Cyril Flerov, Natalia Kisseleva, John Lepingwell, Laurel Nolen, Scott Parrish, and the editorial staff and reviewers for The Nonproliferation Review for their advice, assistance, and comments on drafts of this article. Portions of this article are adapted from Fred Wehling, “Russian Nuclear and Missile Exports to Iran,” NIS Nuclear Profiles database, (subscriber access only).
2. White House, Office of the Press Secretary, “Statement by the President Expanding the President’s Executive Order on Weapons of Mass Destruction,” July 28, 1998.
3. Carol Giacomo, “U.S. may cut Russia aid over Iran missile—Albright,” Reuters, December 9,1998.
4. George Gedda, “US Warns Russia Over Iran Transfers,” Associated Press, December 16, 1998.
5. Thomas W. Lippman, “Sanctions Imposed on 3 Russian Institutions,” Washington Post, January 13, 1999, p. A17.
6. For more on Iran’s nuclear weapons and missile programs, see David Albright, “An Iranian Bomb?” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 51 (March- April 1995), pp. 20-26.
7. Andrew Koch and Jeanette Wolf, “Iran’s Nuclear Procurement Program: How Close to the Bomb?,” Nonproliferation Review 5 (Fall 1997), pp. 123-35.
8. Scott Parrish, “The Russian Connection: Russia, Iran, and the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction,” American Jewish Committee policy paper, May 3, 1998.
9. Aaron Karp, “Lessons of Iranian Missile Programs for U.S. Nonproliferation Policy,” Nonproliferation Review 5 (Spring-Summer 1998), pp. 17-27.
10. Peter Jones, “Iran’s Threat Perceptions and Arms Control Policies,” Nonproliferation Review 6 (Fall 1998), pp. 39-55.
11. See for example Interfax, September 26, 1997, in “Yeltsin Rejects US Nuclear, Missile Iran Transfer Charge,” FBIS-SOV-97-269.
12. Mikhail Kirillin, Rossiyskaya gazeta, May 20, 1998.
13. statement by Foreign Ministry spokesman Vladimir Rakhmanin, Interfax, December 2, 1998.
14. Viktor Mizin, “Russia’s Missile Industry and U.S. Nonproliferation Options,” Nonproliferation Review 5 (Spring-Summer 1998), pp. 36-48.
15. Vladimir Orlov, “Russia, Iran, Iraq and Export Controls: Facts and Conclusions,” PIR Center website, , April 15, 1998.
16. Aleksei Rei, “Predpriiatiia i organizatsii, podozrevaemyye v postavkakh raketnykh tekhnologii v Iran,” PIR Center website, , August 10, 1998.
17. Scott Parrish and Fred Wehling, “Institutions Suspected by the Russian Government of Violating Export Control Legislation,” Center for Nonproliferation Studies website, .
18. Scott Parrish and Fred Wehling “Iran, Russia Agree on $800 Million Nuclear Plant Deal,” Washington Post, January 9, 1995, p. 30.
19. Andrew Jack and Stephen Fidler, “Iranian Nuclear Reactors: US Reinforces Opposition to Deal,” Financial Times, November 26, 1998, p. 2.
20. Carla Anne Robbins and Andrew Higgins, “Fission for Cash: Money Hungry Russia Finds a Foreign Market for Nuclear Knowledge,” Wall Street Journal, December 15, 1998, p. 1.
21. Carla Anne Robbins and Andrew Higgins “Russian Contract Extended to Fuel,” Nuclear News, no. 38 (October 1995), p. 47.
22. David Albright et al., Plutonium and Highly Enriched Uranium 1996: World Inventories, Capabilities, and Policies (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996), p. 353.
23. R. Jeffrey Smith, “Administration Concerned About Russia’s Nuclear Cooperation With Iran,” Washington Post, July 3, 1997, p. A7.
24. ITAR-TASS, March 21, 1996, in “Specialists to Train Iranians forBushehr Nuclear Plant,” FBIS-SOV-96-057.
25. ITAR-TASS “Iran, Russia Agree On $800 Million Nuclear Plant Deal,” p. 30.
26. Albright et al., Plutonium and Highly Enriched Uranium 1996, pp. 355-61.
27. ITAR-TASS, February 7, 1996, in “Novosibirsk Plant to Supply Iran with Nuclear Fuel,” FBIS-TAC-96-003.
28. For more on the proliferation implications of the Bushehr nuclear plant, see Koch and Wolf, “Iran’s Nuclear Procurement Program,” p. 127.
29. Parrish, “The Russian Connection.” ITAR-TASS, March 18. 1996, in “Russian Nuclear Aid to Iran ‘Not Confined’ to Bushehr,” FBIS-TAC-95-005.
30. ITAR-TASS, March 5, 1998, in “Russia Agrees to Build Two More Nuclear Reactors for Iran,” FBIS-TAC-98-065.
31. Jack and Fidler, “Iranian Nuclear Reactor.”
32. Robbins and Higgins, “Fission for Cash”.
33. Lippman, “Sanctions Imposed.”
34. Bill Gertz, “Russia warned on deals with Iran,” Washington Times, December 15, 1998, p. A5.
35. R. Jeffrey Smith, “Administration Concerned about Russia’s Nuclear Cooperation with Iran,” Washington Post, July 3, 1997, p. 3.
36. Interfax, April 6, 1998, in “Russia Ready to Build Research Reactor in Iran,” FBIS-TAC-98-096.
37. Vladimir Mikheyev, “Moscow Will Share the Atom for Peaceful Purposes with Tehran,” Izvestiya, April 8, 1998, in “Adamov Maintains Predecessor’s Stance on Reactor,” FBIS-SOV-98-097.
38. Vladimir Mikheyev, “Russia Plans New Reactor in Iran, Official Says,” Washington Post, April 7, 1998, p. A3.
39. Robbins and Higgins, “Fission for Cash,” p. 1.
40. Smith, “Administration Concerned,” p. 3.
41. Robbins and Higgins, “Fission for Cash,” p. 1.
42. Gertz, “Russia warned on deals with Iran,” p. A5.
43. Albright et al., Plutonium and Highly Enriched Uranium 1996, pp. 355-61.
44. Alexander M. Sullivan, “Clinton Cites Progress on Security Issues at Moscow Summit,” USIA News Release, May 10, 1995.
45. Albright, “An Iranian Bomb?,” p. 22.
46. Smith, Administration Concerned, p. 3.
47. Smith “Press Conference with First Deputy Minister of Nuclear Energy Viktor Mikhailov, PIR Center Officials Regarding Russia-Iran,” November 25, 1998.
48. ITAR-TASS in “Novosibirsk Plant.”
49. Albright et al., Plutonium and Highly Enriched Uranium 1996, p. 353.
50. Albright et al., Plutonium and Highly Enriched Uranium 1996, p. 358.
51. ITAR-TASS in “Specialists to Train Iranians for Bushehr Nuclear Plant.” 24 For more on the political pressure applied to Russia to change its export policies toward Iran.
52. see “UPI Focus: Talbott raises Iranian issue in Russia,” retrieved through Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe, , December 11,1998.
53. David A. Schwarzbach, “Iran’s Nuclear Puzzle,” Scientific American 276 (June 1997), p. 63.
54. Mark Hibbs, “Iran May Keep Russian Spent Fuel or Take Plutonium, REPU, and Waste,” NuclearFuel, December 18, 1995, pp. 1, 10.
55. Izvestiya, December 14, 1995, in “Arrival of Finnish Nuclear Waste Protested,” FBIS-SOV-96-OO1 -S.
56. Izvestiya “Russia’s First Dry Store,” Nuclear Engineering International, December 1996, p. 7.
57. ITAR-TASS in “Specialists to Train Iranians for Bushehr Nuclear Plant.”
58. Bill Gertz, “Russia, China Aid Iran’s Missile Program,” Washington Times, September 10, 1997, p. A1.
59. Steve Rodan, “Secret Israeli Data Reveals Iran Can Make Missile in Year,” Defense News, October 6-12, 1997, p. 4.
60. Steve Rodan “Utverzhdeniya o peredache Rossiyey Iranu raket i raketnykh tekhnologiy ne imeyut dostatochnykh osnovaniy,” Voprosy bezopasnosti, no. 14 (September 30, 1997).
61. ITAR-TASS, September 15, 1997, in “Russian Designers Deny Supplying Missile Technology to Iran,” FBIS-TAC-97-258.
62. Interfax, September 11, 1997, in “No Russian Space Agency Expert ‘Has Even Been To Iran,” FBIS-TAC-97-254.
63. Interfax, September 26, 1997, in “Yeltsin Rejects US Nuclear, Missile Iran Transfer Charge,” FBIS-SOV-97-269.
64. Interview with US missile experts (names withheld by request), by Monitoring Proliferation Threats (MPT) staff, Center for Nonproliferation Studies, Monterey, CA, January 15, 1998, MPT document RUS980115.
65. Bill Gertz, “Russia Disregards Pledge to Curb Iran Missile Output,” Washington Times, May 22, 1997, p. A3.
66. Rodan, “Secret Israeli Data,” p. 4.
67. ITAR-TASS, July 15, 1998, in “Russia Begins Dual Technology Export Firms Investigations,” FTS199807I5000240.
68. Gertz, “Russia Disregards Pledge,” p. A3.
69. Gertz, “Russia, China Aid Iran,” p. Al.
70. Rodan, “Secret Israeli Data,” p. 4.
71. Michael R. Gordon with Eric Schmitt, “Iran Nearly Got A Missile Alloy From Russians,” New York Times, April 25, 1998, p. Al.
72. Anatoliy Yelizarov, “Vobkhod zakona raketami ne torguyem…” Rossiyskaya gazeta, July 1, 1998, p. 8.
73. David Filipov, “What US Calls Arms Proliferation, Russia Firm Calls Business as Usual,” Boston Globe, August 19, 1998, p. 1.
74. ITAR-TASS in “Russia Begins Dual Technology Export Firms Investigations.”
75. ITAR-TASS “A talk with A. Q. Khan: Pakistan’s top nuclear scientist talks about nuclear weapons,” Foreign Report, no. 2506 (July 30, 1998).
76. Gordon and Schmitt, “Iran Nearly Got A Missile Alloy,” p. A1.
77. ITAR-TASS in “Russia Begins Dual Technology Export Firms Investigations.” ■
78. Gertz, “Russia Disregards Pledge,” p. A3.
79. Rodan, “Secret Israeli Data,” p. 4.
80. Gertz, “Russia, China Aid Iran,” p. A1.
81. ITAR-TASS, September 15, 1997, in “Russian Designers Deny Supplying Missile Technology to Iran,” FBIS-TAC-97-258.
82. Interfax in “No Russian Space Agency Expert ‘Has Even Been To Iran.”
83. ITAR-TASS in “Russia Begins Dual Technology Export Firms Investigations.”
84. Barton Gellman, “Mixed Signals Cloud Debate on Iran Policy,” Washington Post, December 31,1997, p. 1.
85. Rodan, “Secret Israeli Data,” p. 4.
86. Gertz, “Russia, China Aid Iran,” p. A1.
87. Gordon and Schmitt, “Iran Nearly Got A Missile Alloy,” p. A1.
88. ITAR-TASS in “Russia Begins Dual Technology Export Firms Investigations.”
89. ITAR-TASS, July 29, 1998, in “Rector Denies Russian Involvement in Iran Arms Program,” FBIS-TAC-98-209.
90. ITAR-TASS, July 13,1998, in “Security Service Cracks Down on Weapons Technology Exports,” FBIS-SOV-98-194.
91. Lippman, “Sanctions Imposed.”
92. ITAR-TASS, in “Security Service Cracks Down.”
93. ITAR-TASS in “Russia Begins Dual Technology Export Firms Investigations.”
94. ITAR-TASS in “Russia Begins Dual Technology Export Firms Investigations.”
95. White House, Office ofthe Press Secretary, “Statement by the President Expanding the President’s Executive Order on Weapons of Mass Destruction,” July 28, 1998.
96. Yevgeniya Albats, “Nash Chelovek v Tegerane,” Novaya gazeta, no. 10 (March 16-22, 1998), in “Hiring of Missile Experts for Iran Described,” FBIS-TAC-98-076.
97. Daniel Williams, “Russian Spy Agency Linked to Iran,” Washington Post, March 23, 1998, p. A14.
98. Daniel Williams, “Executive Summary of the Report of the Commission to Assess the Ballistic Missile Threat to the United States,” (Washington, DC: The Commission, July 15, 1998), pp. 13-14.
99. Ze’ev Schifif, “After the Iranian Test,” Ha’aretz, July 29, 1998, p. B1.
100. Arieh O’Sullivan and Liat Collins, “Iran Expected to Complete Shahab-3 Prototype Next Year,” Jerusalem Post, July 29, 1998, .
101. IRNA (Tehran), August 4,1998, in “IRGC Commander Reveals Shahab- 3 Missile’s Size, Capability,” FBIS-TAC-98-218.
102. IRNA “Iran Confirms Test-Firing of Missile,” Washington Post, July 26, 1998, p. A27.
103. IRNA “Iran Confirms Test-Firing of Missile,” U.S. Department of State Daily Press Briefing, July 23, 1998.
104. Tim Weiner, “Iran Said to Test Missile Able to Hit Israel and Saudis,” New York Times, July 23, 1998, p. A1.
105. Steven Erlanger, “Washington Casts Wary Eye at Missile Test,” New York Times, July 24, 1998, p. A6.
106. Mikhail Kirillin, Rossiyskaya gazeta, May 20, 1998, p. 7, in “Dual-Purpose Exports to Iran Denied,” FBIS-TAC-98-140.
107. Mikhail Kirillin “Utverzhdeniya o peredache Rossiyei Iranu raket i raketnykh tekhnologiy ne imeyut dostatochnykh osnovaniy,” Voprosy bezopasnosti, no. 14 (September 30, 1997).
108. Interfax in “Yeltsin Rejects US Nuclear, Missile Iran Transfer Charge.”
109. Interfax “Yeltsin tightens controls over Russian missile technology,” Associated Press, January 5, 1999.
110. Gertz, “Russia, China Aid Iran’s Missile Program,” p. A1.
111. Rodan, “Secret Israeli Data,” p. 4.
112. White House, Office of the Press Secretary, “Statement by the President Expanding the President’s Executive Order on Weapons of Mass Destruction,” July 28, 1998. [For details on the sanctions and the companies to which they were applied, see Scott Parrish and Fred Welding, “Institutions Suspected by the Russian Government of Violating Export Control Legislation,” Center for Nonproliferation Studies website, .] The United States subsequently also applied economic penalties to three research institutions (Lippman, “Sanctions Imposed”).
113. Carol Giacomo, “U.S. may cut Russia aid over Iran missile—Albright,” Reuters, December 9, 1998.
114. Craig Whitney, “Albright Presses Russia to Limit Aid to Iran,” New York Times, December 10, 1998, p. A15.
115. George Gedda, “US Warns Russia Over Iran Transfers,” Associated Press, December 16,1998.
116. Barry Schweid, “US threatens Russia with cutback of satellite launches,” Associated Press, January 14, 1999.
117. See Vladimir Orlov and William C. Potter, “The Mystery of the Sunken Gyros,” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 54 (November-December 1998), pp. 34-39.