Abstract
"Iran now lies at the center of the Middle East's major problems": civil wars in Iraq and Lebanon, development and security challenges in Afghanistan and in the Gulf, oil crisis, etc. But the main issue concerning the Islamic Republic of Iran for the international community is the development of its nuclear program. Nuclear proliferation is an issue that is regulated under a multilateral Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT) by the UN-affiliated International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) but that also involves the UN Security Council, as it constitutes a threat to peace and security. It is thus interesting to analyze the challenge of Iran nuclear program in this multilateral perspective. Iran is a party to the NPT since 1970 and the Islamic Revolution did not change this situation. The nuclear program was actually initiated in the 1950s by the Shah who benefited from US support (as Eisenhower had launched the Atoms for Peace program). In the 1970s, Iran even received assistance from the US, Germany and France for its technology and fuel supply. The decision to develop nuclear technologies was favored by the war with Iraq in 1980 and not by the fear of Israel or the US.
