Dr Ian J Stewart, 14 June 2025

Much is currently being written about the consequences of Israel’s military action in Iran. The conflict certainly carries  monumental importance that deserves careful analysis. However, as of today, the 14^th of July, only one thing matters and world attention should focus on this question: What’s happening with Iran’s 60% enriched uranium? Right now, more than 400 kgs of material – enough for perhaps 10 weapons – is outside of international oversight. Iran could convert this material into 90% HEU within a couple of days. Attention needs to focus on ensuring this material is not diverted to weapons use. 

Highly enriched uranium is one of the two main types of material that can be used in nuclear weapons and was the material used in the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. There, 64 kilograms of uranium enriched to 80% were used in a crude nuclear weapon that was so simple that it didn’t even need to be… more

Comment from Ian Stewart: this post is reproduced from nonproliferation.org. I would welcome the opportunity to give additional book talks, including talks which are more contemporarily focused. Please reach out. 

On October 4, 2021 CNS hosted a webinar at the Monterey Institute of International Studies at Monterey, CA featuring Dr. Ian Stewart, executive director at the CNS Washington DC office. He is a specialist on issues related to export controls, sanctions, and nonproliferation.

Dr. Stewart summarized the argument of his new book as follows:

• First, he argued that the nonproliferation regime is flawed in design. I trace… more

AQ Khan died on 10 October 2021 at the age of 85. Khan is an important figure in relation to proliferation and nonproliferation controls. This post does not seek to provide a biography or obituary to Khan. Instead, the post is the first of a series that will examine the role of AQ Khan drawing on primary source documents. This post provides a summary of a document obtained from the UK national archives, ‘URENCO and the AQ Khan affair’, which speaks to the Khan affair up to around October 1979. Images of this file  are published  alongside this piece. The file contains the recorded UK… more

In this post I wanted to provide some background on the research that led to the collection of the materials on this site. I started my PhD research after moving from the UK Ministry of Defence to King’s College London. My transfer to King’s College London built on my last role at the MOD in which I was responsible for assessment of exports and other forms of trade from a nonproliferation perspective. My main role at KCL was to be running something called Project Alpha, which was a new nonproliferation initiative through which to conduct research and outreach related to nonproliferation trade. This was already more than a full time role.

The PhD then was an extra undertaking on top of my day to day work, which was focused on contemporary counter proliferation topics. With my experience in government an academia of working on contemporary counter proliferation issues, I felt a strong need to better understand the context and history of… more