Is all lost regarding establishing weapons of mass destruction free zone in the Middle East?

May 27, 2015

    By Tiara Shaya – Whenever I am asked what topic of research I focus on, the response is usually the same. “You know that will never happen, right?” The long aspired to and elusive goal of establishing a weapons of mass destruction free zone in the Middle East is generally seen as unrealistic, a naïve vision that only the inexperienced or perhaps highly liberal-minded person would ascribe to. The Middle East is, ultimately, the only region where all...

A Blueprint to a Middle East WMD Free Zone

April 30, 2015

  By Chen Kane – The ninth Review Conference (RevCon) of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) is currently taking place in New York. Central issue for the RevCon include the Middle East zone free of weapons of mass destruction (WMD).   The idea to free the Middle East from all weapons of mass destruction and establishing a weapon-of-mass-destruction-free zone (WMDFZ) originated many decades ago. Surprisingly little thought has been given to how it can be realistically implemented....

Saving the Middle East Weapons of Mass Destruction Free Zone Process

April 21, 2015

  By Karim Kamel – Those who greatly oppose the idea of the Middle East Weapons of Mass Destruction Free Zone (MEWMDFZ) and those who strongly want to impose it are ready to engage in a finger-pointing process about why the Helsinki Conference has not taken place by the 2015 Review Conference (RevCon) of the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). If both sides proceed with this outlook, the MEWMDFZ initiative, the people of the Middle East, as...

Seven questions about the emerging Iran nuclear deal

March 3, 2015

  By Miles A. Pomper –Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the U.S. Congress tonight to warn about a pending deal between Iran and six other countries, including the United States; meanwhile the negotiations are kicking into high gear as the countries struggle to complete a framework agreement before the end of the month. The high-stakes drama, however, has obscured some of the key questions that the administration should have to answer if it wants to win congressional and regional support for...

The false promise of a piecemeal approach to a WMD-free Middle East

March 13, 2014

  By Bilal Y. Saab – Almost two decades have passed since the Middle East Resolution – agreed by the 1995 Review and Extension Conference of the Parties to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty – called to rid the region of all weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Yet the Middle East remains a heavily militarised theatre of conflict awash with such capabilities, and is still very far from the goal of disarmament.   There is no single reason why regional states...

CW attack in Syria: faulty intelligence or faulty conclusions?

March 7, 2014

  By Uzi Rubin – During the early morning hours of August 21, 2013 a deadly attack of rockets carrying nerve gas was unleashed upon several neighborhoods east and south of Damascus. The world was horrified when the images of piles of corpses, many of them children’s, were flashed on TV screens and through the social networks. A United Nations (UN) mandated inspection team confirmed that a large scale chemical attack has indeed taken place on August 21. With the...

Iran Plays Games with the Geneva Deal

December 19, 2013

  By Olli Heinonen and Orde Kittrie – Nearly a month since the six-month Joint Plan of Action with Iran was announced in Geneva on November 24, the deal has yet to go into effect.  The two sides have not even agreed on a start date for implementing the deal.    Meanwhile, Iran says it is continuing to advance its nuclear program.   Iran’s ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Reza Najafi, says that Iran will not begin implementing its...

Getting to Zero in the Middle East

December 13, 2013

  By Bilal Y. Saab – As Syria dismantles its chemical weapons infrastructure and Iran places verifiable limitations on its nuclear program for the next six months and potentially longer, an opportunity for further progress on the elusive goal of ridding the Middle East of all weapons of mass destruction (WMD) presents itself. While old challenges remain and new ones have materialized, it would be a net loss for all regional parties to fail to take advantage of the momentum...

Middle East needs WMD experts to push the cause of arms control

December 2, 2013

  By Nilsu Goren, Aviv Melamud, Ibrahim Said Ibrahim and Ariane Tabatabai – Middle East regional stability and security continues to face substantial challenges, among them the problem of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Israel’s opaque nuclear posture, doubts surrounding the military dimensions of Iran’s nuclear program, the use of chemical weapons in Syria, and other suspected weapons programs are all impediments to arms control efforts.   In an environment where terrorist organizations are active and statehood is fragile, physical...

An early look at the Iran-EU-5+1 Joint Action Plan

November 25, 2013

  By Miles A. Pomper – The P5+1 (the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Russia, and China, facilitated by the European Union) agreed with Iran on November 24, 2013 in Geneva on a six-month Joint Action Plan. The agreement is supposed to serve as an interim deal, setting the stage for negotiations over a longer term, comprehensive agreement. Below are three sets of observations related to the interim agreement, the forthcoming negotiations over a potential long term deal, and...