The principal world authority concerning scientific and technological co-operation in the field of the peaceful use of nuclear energy. The IAEA has also been given responsibility for an important mission to avoid the proliferation of nuclear weapons. The Agency currently brings together 153 Member States. Its headquarters is in Vienna. It was founded by the United Nations, in 1957, as a response to the ‘Atoms for peace’ speech made by the United States President, Dwight Eisenhower, who suggested the creation of an international body responsible for promoting and monitoring the civil and peaceful use of nuclear energy. As an offshoot of the United Nations (UN), one of its major objectives is to assure the safety of populations and states in fighting against any illicit attempt to use nuclear fission for military purposes. To guarantee and verify the peaceful use of nuclear energy, the IAEA is responsible for inspecting nuclear activities and installations throughout the world. It verifies that the Non Nuclear Weapons States (NNWS) which have signed the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) respect their commitments in order to avoid the peaceful use of nuclear technology being diverted to military ends.

To succeed in this mission it encourages non signatory states to join the NPT and conclude safeguard agreements. After the discovery of a certain number of clandestine programmes, a strengthening of the controls was defined in an Additional Protocol to the NPT. If the IAEA can demonstrate that a State has not respected its obligations, it refers it to the UN’s Security Council, which decides what consequences should follow.

In recent years, activity in this domain has been marked by the difficult relationships Western nations and the IAEA has had with Iran, suspected of wishing to equip itself with an atomic weapon in order to ‘safeguard’ its territory (render it beyond attack) against the potential threats from within its geopolitical environment, and notably from Israel, a country equipped with a nuclear arsenal. To date no formal proof has nevertheless been produced that Iran is developing a nuclear weapon.

Moreover the IAEA and its Director General, Mohamed ElBaradei, jointly received the Nobel Peace Prize, on December 1, 2005, for ‘their efforts in preventing prevent nuclear energy being used for military ends.’