Opportunities and Threats of Iran’s Membership in the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (Legal, Political, Defensive and Security)

Due to the proliferation of technologies underlying weapons of mass destruction and the non-membership of Iran's regional rival, Israel, in the organization, and despite the indicators for the success of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), there are always concerns about the consequences of Iran’s membership in the OPCW, meaning that by joining the organization, Iran will not only lose its weapons-based deterrence, but also is exposed to intelligence threats by providing the organization with confidential onformation. The main question of the present study is what legal-political, defense and security opportunities Iran will enjoy and what threats it will face by joining the CWC and the OPCW. The purpose of this research is to accurately explain the opportunities and threats in order to benefit more from them to secure Iran's interests. The findings show that the implicit threats of membership in the CWC and the OPCW are also present in the case of non-membership. However, the direct and implicit opportunities for Iran's membership in the convention and the organization are unavoidable.