On April 14, 2008, Russian and U.S. experts from the Luxembourg Forum on Preventing Nuclear Catastrophe gathered in Moscow to convene their first meeting this year to discuss a new UN Security Council resolution on Iran and current state of the Iranian nuclear crisis.
The meeting discussed all aspects of the Iranian threat, including possible implementation of the March UN Security Council Resolution No. 1803, the IAEA efforts, position of Russia, the U.S., China and the Middle East countries on resolving the existing situation.

The experts considered various ways to facilitate settling the Iranian crisis fuelled by a defiant and hostile reaction of the Iranian leadership to the recent demand of the UN Security Council to abandon the uranium enrichment.

The meeting focused on political and diplomatic ways to address the issue, in particular the possibility of recognising Iran’s nuclear status after its president declared that the country has developed civil nuclear technologies, subject to Iran’s ratification of the NPT Additional Protocol, strict compliance with the protocol’s provisions and wider IAEA inspection powers, as well as the efficiency of further severer financial sanctions against Iran should it breach the recent UN Security Council Resolution. Another point for discussion was consequences of various force actions envisaged by the UN Charter or taken unilaterally.

As an outcome of the meeting, the working group is to issue a memorandum providing assessment of the situation and offering possible ways to resolve the Iranian nuclear crisis in the current environment.

The Luxembourg Forum’s working group meeting was attended by:

1. Viatcheslav KANTOR , Luxembourg Forum president, Ph.D. (Russia)

2. Alexei ARBATOV, head of the Center for International Security of the Institute for World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO) at the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), RAS corresponding member (former deputy chairman of the Defense Committee of the State Duma at Russian Parliament’s Federal Assembly)

3. Vladimir BARANOVSKIY, IMEMO deputy director, RAS corresponding member

4. Vladimir DVORKIN, RAS IMEMO principal researcher, Professor, Major-General, ret. (former director of the 4th Major Institute of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation)

5. Robert EINHORN, International Security Program senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (former assistant secretary for non-proliferation of the U.S. Department of State) (USA)

6. Rose GOTTEMOELLER, Carnegie Moscow Center director (former assistant secretary for non-proliferation and national security of the U.S. Department of Energy (USA)

7. Alexander KALIADIN, RAS IMEMO principal researcher, Ph.D.

8. Anton KHLOPKOV, PIR Center executive director

9. Vasily MIKHEEV, RAS IMEMO sector head, RAS corresponding member

10. Robert NURICK, senior fellow of the Center for Non-proliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies (USA)

11. Sergey OZNOBISHCHEV, Institute for Strategic Assessments director, Professor of the Moscow State Institute for International Relations; Ph.D.

12. Aleksandr PIKAEV, vice chairman of the Committee of Academics for International Security; RAS IMEMO department head, Ph.D.

13. Rajab SAFAROV, director general of the Center for Modern Iran, Ph.D. Jon WOLFSTHAL, International Security Program senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (USA)

14. Evgeney SATANOVSKIY, Institute of the Middle East president, Ph.D.

15. Vladimir SAZHIN, principal researcher of the Near and Middle East Department at the RAN Institute of Oriental Sciences, Ph.D

16. Jon WOLFSTHAL, International Security Program senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (USA)