As confrontation over Iran’s nuclear ambitions continues to fester, the complex sources of this crisis remain poorly appreciated. Iran’s nuclear aims, and international resistance to them, emerge from the convergence of several unique historical and contemporary forces. A peaceful resolution depends on taking the full breadth of these circumstances into account. This program addresses these dilemmas by assessing various elements influencing Iran’s nuclear decision making, such as domestic determinants of thinking about nuclear issues, the dynamics of contemporary Iranian political society, economic reform, democratization and human rights, human security conditions in Iran and the Middle East region, the current evolution of nuclear technology capabilities in Iran, and Iran’s role in the Middle East region. The purposes of the program are fourfold:

•  Illuminate the particular and unique circumstances of Iran’s nuclear ambitions, highlighting the distinctions from other proliferation concerns that are relevant to shaping effective global responses.
• Facilitate collaborative engagement between key Iranian specialists and their Western counterparts aiming to forge innovative resolutions to current conflicts.
• Provide depth and breadth to ongoing policy discussions in Canada and elsewhere in the world, helping policy-making respond to emerging challenges in the course of ongoing events.
• Increase public knowledge through a designed strategy to disseminate the insights of the project through events and publications.