Congressional Digest

Excerpt

Iran initiated its nuclear power program in the 1950s with the assistance of the Atoms for Peace program, announced by U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower as a way for nations to share nuclear materials and technology for peaceful purposes. Under the leadership of the shah, Iran’s program developed quickly, but was forestalled in 1979 by the Iranian Islamic revolution and in the 1980s by the Iran−Iraq war.

In 2003, the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) began conducting inspections of Iran’s nuclear facilities and discovered a number of violations of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation T…