Non-proliferation treaty

Abstract

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was founded in 1957 to ensure the safe and peaceful use of nuclear energy. Signed in 1968, the Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty entered into force in 1970. Among its objectives, three basic principles were established: (i) to nuclear States Party to the Treaty, the prohibition of transferring nuclear weapons to any other state, not encouraging, assisting or inducing the acquisition of such weapons; (ii) Non-nuclear weapons States Party to the Treaty do not manufacture or acquire, in any way, such weapons; (iii) All States accept the safeguards of nuclear material set forth by the IAEA. Safeguards are activities where the IAEA verify whether or not a Member State is diverging nuclear material or equipment from peaceful uses to nuclear weapons. In addition, in case of non-compliance with the terms, sanctions enter as a way to inhibit such behavior. In the last years, mainly during the decade of 2000, the Iranian nuclear program has become the subject of controversy for international security. Country’s refusal to halt the nuclear program has already prompted the United Nations to approve three package of sanctions against Iran in December. 2006, in March 2007 and in March 2008. Despite these sanctions, Iran still did not allowed additional visits by IAEA inspectors to sites associated to nuclear activities. In this work, the effectiveness of NTP’s economic sanctions over Iran’s economy and its nuclear politic was evaluated. For this purpose, economic indicators such as the unemployment rate, the inflation rate and the GDP during the period from 2003 to 2017 were analyzed. The main conclusion is that the economic sanctions applied to Iran, by the United Nation Security Council were effective once, after the establishment of the sanctions, Iran’s economy suffered a severe negative impact. However, from 2015, after the signature of the Global Plan of Action, with the group of countries called P5 + 1 (China, United States, France, United Kingdom, Russia and Germany), which agreed to withdraw Iran’s sanctions once complied with IAEA standards, it can be observed a gradual improvement in the Iran’s economic indicators.