Iran
Defense Industries Organization (DIO) (Nuclear)
About
The state-owned Defense Industries Organization (DIO), founded in 1981 in a post-revolutionary effort to reorganize and expand Iran’s defense industry, is one of the main subsidiaries of the Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics. 1 The DIO owns several workshops that have assembled P-2 centrifuges with parts purchased from foreign suppliers. 2 According to ISIS, three such workshops are Khorasan Metallurgy Industries, 7th of Tir Industries, and Sanam Electronic Industry Group. 3 After initially stalling efforts by the IAEA to inspect these facilities, Iran provided the Agency with the locations of numerous sites and inspectors visited several facilities. 4 However, the fact that a military organization has produced crucial parts for Iran’s centrifuge program (e.g. rotors for P-2 centrifuges), has raised questions about the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program. 5 The DIO is the target of both U.S. and UN sanctions. 6
Glossary
- International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
- IAEA: Founded in 1957 and based in Vienna, Austria, the IAEA is an autonomous international organization in the United Nations system. The Agency’s mandate is the promotion of peaceful uses of nuclear energy, technical assistance in this area, and verification that nuclear materials and technology stay in peaceful use. Article III of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) requires non-nuclear weapon states party to the NPT to accept safeguards administered by the IAEA. The IAEA consists of three principal organs: the General Conference (of member states); the Board of Governors; and the Secretariat. For additional information, see the IAEA.
Sources
- Steven R. Ward, Immortal: A Military History of Iran and its Armed Forces (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2009), p. 263.
- “Implementation of the NPT Safeguards Agreement in the Islamic Republic of Iran,” International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), 1 June 2004, www.iaea.org.
- “Nuclear Iran, Nuclear Sites, Defense Industries Organization,” Institute for Science and International Security, www.isisnucleariran.org.
- “Implementation of the NPT Safeguards Agreement in the Islamic Republic of Iran,” International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), 15 November 2004, www.iaea.org.
- “Implementation of the NPT Safeguards Agreement in the Islamic Republic of Iran,” International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), 26 May 2008, www.iaea.org.
- In 2006, UN Security Council Resolution 1737 designated the DIO as an entity subject to assets freeze. In March 2007, the U.S. Department of State designated DIO pursuant to Executive Order 13382, an authority aimed at freezing the assets of proliferators of weapons of mass destruction and their supporters. Furthermore, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control added DIO to its list of specially designated nationals and blocked persons.