1. Iranian civilisation dates back thousands of years. Iran is one of the largest and most powerful countries in its region, whose role in global security has become increasingly significant in recent years. The Foreign Affairs Committee launched its Global Security series with two Reports published last year on the Middle East and Russia. Given the importance of relations with Tehran, our third Report in this series focuses on Iran, in particular on the challenge posed by its nuclear programme.

2. Our predecessor Committee produced a Report on the UK's relationship with Iran in 2004. We have continued to monitor the Government's policy towards Iran in this Parliament, for instance in our seventh Report in the series on Foreign Policy Aspects of the War Against Terrorism published in 2006.[1] Last year, we considered Iran's role in its region in our Report on Global Security: The Middle East, [2] and we also produced a shorter Report entitled Foreign Policy Aspects of the Detention of Naval Personnel by the Islamic Republic of Iran, based in part on evidence taken for this current inquiry.[3]

3. Under our terms of reference, the issues considered in this Report include:

• the extent of the progress Iran has made on nuclear development;
• the relationship between Iran's domestic political and human rights situation, and its nuclear ambitions;
• the relationship between Iran's regional and international security situation and its nuclear ambitions;
• the regional and global security implications of Iran's nuclear programme;
• the history of international engagement with Iran over nuclear non-proliferation, in particular the role of the United Kingdom, the European Union, the United States, Russia and the United Nations; and
• the options open to the international community in addressing the possibility of Iran obtaining nuclear weapons, and the implications of these options for regional and global security, nuclear proliferation and energy security.

4. The Committee took evidence in May 2007 from Dr Rosemary Hollis, Director of Research at Chatham House, Sir Richard Dalton, Her Majesty's Ambassador to Iran from 2002-2006, and Lord Triesman (with officials), who at the time was Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). This evidence focused on the detention of British naval personnel by Iran, but also touched on the wider issues covered in this Report. We also took oral evidence from Dr Ali Ansari of the University of St Andrews, Dr Frank Barnaby of the Oxford Research Group, Lord Archer of Sandwell, and the Minister of State responsible for Iran at the FCO, Dr Kim Howells MP (with officials). In addition, the Committee received a range of written submissions. We would like to thank all those who took the time to submit evidence to this inquiry.

5. For ease of reference, we note here some of the other organisations and individuals whose evidence we draw on frequently in this Report. Paul Arkwright and Antony Phillipson are, respectively, the head of the counter-proliferation and Iran co-ordination sections at the FCO. The British American Security Information Council (BASIC) and the Verification Research, Training and Information Centre (VERTIC) are two NGOs with expertise on Iran's nuclear programme. Time to Talk is a coalition of NGOs (including Oxfam and the Foreign Policy Centre) that advocates a particular solution to the crisis. Mark Fitzpatrick is the Senior Fellow for Non-Proliferation at the International Institute for Strategic Studies and Karim Sadjadpour is an Associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Elahe Mohtasham is a Senior Research Associate at the Foreign Policy Centre. We also make repeated reference to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and its Director-General, Dr Mohammed ElBaradei.

6. In November 2007, Members of the Committee undertook a productive visit to Iran as part of our inquiry, hosted by our counterpart Committee in the Iranian Majlis. We would like to thank them for their assistance in putting together our programme, which included a meeting with the Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (and chief nuclear negotiator) Dr Saeed Jalili. We are also grateful for the assistance provided to us by Her Majesty's Ambassador in Iran, Geoffrey Adams, and his team at the Embassy. This Report has also been informed by other visits of the Committee, most notably to New York and Washington DC in October 2007 during which we discussed Iran with key interlocutors within the US Administration and at the United Nations.

2   Foreign Affairs Committee, Eighth Report of Session 2006-07, Global Security: The Middle East, HC 363 Back

3   Foreign Affairs Committee, Sixth Report of Session 2006-07, Foreign Policy Aspects of the Detention of Naval Personnel by the Islamic Republic of Iran, HC 880 Back