Analysts at the U.S.-based Institute of Science and International Security (ISIS) Monday published a report [PDF] describing what steps Iran would be obligated to take under a comprehensive nuclear agreement, should that agreement robustly impose barriers on the Islamic republic’s ability to produce nuclear weapons. The Wall Street Journal noted that the “prescriptions aren’t viewed as particularly harsh or hard-line.”

David Albright, who heads the think tank, is a former U.N. weapons inspector who has advised the administration on arms control. He said the study was developed by independent research and through extensive discussions in recent months with Obama administration officials working on the Iran file.

It evaluates a controversial scenario under which Iran would be permitted to continue enriching uranium, despite half a dozen binding United Nations Security Council resolutions demanding otherwise and fears that U.S. allies who have forgone enrichment at Washington’s behest will end up marginalized. Tehran would be minimally expected, instead, to remove 15,000 centrifuges, shut down its uranium enriching underground military bunker at Fordow, downgrade the reactor at its plutonium-production facility at Arak, and agree to a 20-year inspection regime. The recommendations are designed to ensure that Iran would require between six months to a year should it, sometime in the future after the deal is implemented, decide to break off cooperation with the West and with international nuclear inspectors.

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