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Iran’s nuclear conference

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Leaders from more than 40 countries are gathering in Washington for a summit called by President Barack Obama to look at measures to improve nuclear security. It is a major plank of Mr Obama’s nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation agenda. Neither North Korea nor Iran, two states with disputed nuclear ambitions, have been invited to the summit. In fact, Iran is hosting its own nuclear conference this week. Jim Walsh is an expert in international security and a Research Associate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Security Studies Program.

• BBC coverage of nuclear security summit in DC
• Nuclear Summit homepage
• Iran and the nuclear issue
• Matthew Bell previews the DC summit

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MARCO WERMAN:  I’m Marco Werman and this is The World, a co-production of the BBC World Service, PRI and WGBH Boston.  As you just heard, world leaders have gathered in Washington for a summit on nuclear security.  President Obama called the conference to address the threat of groups such as Al Qaeda obtaining nuclear materials.  Iran was not invited, but President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is holding his own nuclear summit in Tehran this weekend.  Jim Walsh will be there.  He is a research associate at MIT’s Securities Studies Program.  He says the conferences in Washington and Tehran will both address nuclear issues, but not the same ones.

JIM WALSH:  I think President Ahmadinejad is confused on this because the conference in Washington is about nuclear material, not about nuclear weapons.  It’s about taking measures to prevent that material from falling into the hands of terrorists.  The conference in Tehran is going to be on nuclear power and nuclear weapons or disarmament.  And the reason, I think, why they would have this conference is because next month in May there’s going to be the meeting of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.  That’s a meeting that happens once every five years and typically at these meetings Iran ends up being a focal point.  So this is a chance for Iran to sort of get ahead of the curve, come up with a message to try to get its act together for the NPT meeting.

WERMAN: And why are you going Jim?  What’s interesting in this particular conference for you?

WALSH: Well the topic, I work on nuclear issues, and frankly, if Iran wants to say that it’s in favor of civilian nuclear energy but is against nuclear weapons, then I think that’s great.  I think that’s what the world wants and it’s a question of making that happen and having confidence that it’s true.  But the more you have officials saying that line; I think the more it’s a constraint on any weapons activities they might have in the future.

WERMAN: Isn’t this what Iran has always said though, we want nuclear power, we don’t want nuclear weapons?

WALSH: They have always said it.  The problem of course is that there continues to be concern and suspicion.  The International Atomic Energy Agency, the IAEA has gone through rounds of investigations and has said that while Iran apparently is not diverting material from any of its plants to a weapons program, there are other activities that are of concern and they continue to have questions that they feel are unanswered.

WERMAN: And who is invited to the Iran conference and, more to the point, who is attending?

WALSH: Well these conferences are typically large conferences involving many nations.  But I would expect you’ll see people from China, Russia, India, Pakistan, Central Asia, European states and I think there are at least six or seven Americans who may be going and that’s a far larger number than is typically the case.

WERMAN: And a lot of these players are at the conference in Washington.  What do you think the significance is of major players going to both conferences?  Is this a good thing or a bad thing for the White House and its goals?

WALSH: I think it’s good for both countries to attend both conferences.  Again, it’s an opportunity for those foreign ministers to talk to Foreign Minister Motaki and make clear their concerns and possibly also to talk about a way forward, a way where everyone can get what they want.  Where we have confidence that that nuclear program is not going to be used for military purposes, but that they Iranians get what they need which is a civilian nuclear program that they can take some pride in and show off.  If we’re going to resolve a nuclear issue, that’s the only way it’s going to happen where there’s some sort of negotiated settlement and which all sides can feel safe and secure and that’s only going to happen if there is some dialogue between the parties.

WERMAN: Jim Walsh with MIT’s Securities Studies Program, thank you very much Jim.

WALSH: Thank you.

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