Plutonium Page has done quite a few articles on Iran's nuclear program arguing that Iran is violating the rules. She correctly notes that 150 countries are members of the IAEA. But, there is another reality, a reality that few are willing to voice, and that reality is that few countries "play by the rules".
The United States is one of the worst at playing by the rules...
As noted by Plutonium Page, the United States was a charter member of the IAEA in 1957. But, what wasn't noted is that the NPT consists of more then just the S1 safeguards.
The Non-Proliferation Treaty states in Article I:
Each nuclear-weapon State Party to the Treaty undertakes not to transfer to any recipient whatsoever nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices or control over such weapons or explosive devices directly, or indirectly; and not in any way to assist, encourage, or induce any non-nuclear weapon State to manufacture or otherwise acquire nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices, or control over such weapons or explosive devices.
It was France that assisted Israel in building its first nuclear facility. In 1961, Israel announced its intention to separate the nuclear fuel. Reportedly, Israel built its first nuclear weapon around 1968. They did so with the support of Britain.
Top secret British documents[25][26] obtained by BBC Newsnight show that Britain made hundreds of secret shipments of restricted materials to Israel in the 1950s and 1960s. These included specialist chemicals for reprocessing and samples of fissile material—uranium-235 in 1959, and plutonium in 1966, as well as highly enriched lithium-6 which is used to boost fission bombs and fuel hydrogen bombs.[27]
The UK was also a charter member of the IAEA in 1957, btw. But, it was President Nixon that violated the NPT:
Later that year, U.S. President Richard Nixon in a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir pressed Israel to "make no visible introduction of nuclear weapons or undertake a nuclear test program", so maintaining a policy of nuclear ambiguity.[40]
In fact, according to Sibel Edmunds, the United States has been involved in black market nuclear technology among other crimes.
THE FBI has been accused of covering up a key case file detailing evidence against corrupt government officials and their dealings with a network stealing nuclear secrets.
The assertion follows allegations made in The Sunday Times two weeks ago by Sibel Edmonds, an FBI whistleblower, who worked on the agency’s investigation of the network.
During the deposition --- which we are still going through ourselves --- Edmonds discusses covert "activities" by Turkish entities "that would involve trying to obtain very sensitive, classified, highly classified U.S. intelligence information, weapons technology information, classified Congressional records...recruiting key U.S. individuals with access to highly sensitive information, blackmailing, bribery."
But, the most damning evidence against our own country came under President George W. Bush.
The budget is busted; American soldiers need more armor; they're running out of supplies. Yet the Department of Energy is spending an astonishing $6.5 billion on nuclear weapons this year, and President Bush is requesting $6.8 billion more for next year and a total of $30 billion over the following four years. This does not include his much-cherished missile-defense program, by the way. This is simply for the maintenance, modernization, development, and production of nuclear bombs and warheads.
Why is this "against the rules"? The NPT states in article II:
Each non-nuclear-weapon State Party to the Treaty undertakes not to receive the transfer from any transferor whatsoever of nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices or of control over such weapons or explosive devices directly, or indirectly; not to manufacture or otherwise acquire nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices; and not to seek or receive any assistance in the manufacture of nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices.
Yet, has the IAEA been scouring the United States to find these new nuclear weapons we are developing? No. But that doesn't stop Plutonium Page from doing article after article about how Iran is violating "the rules".
The United States and Britain both broke the rules and the IAEA hasn't been investigating either country. So, color me unimpressed when a country such as Iran, who has been under constant threat since 1953, decides that it, too, won't play "by the rules".