Signatories of the letter include a former IAEA director-general, two former special representatives to the president of the United States on nonproliferation, and several former high-level officials from the National Security Council, the National Intelligence Council, and the State Department, among other agencies.
President Joe Biden has a narrow window of opportunity after his inauguration to head off a nuclear crisis with Iran by stabilizing the 2015 multilateral nuclear deal with Iran and laying the groundwork for future negotiations on the country’s nuclear program.
Iran has begun to produce 20 percent-enriched uranium, significantly reducing the work needed to make nuclear weapons material.
Iran's parliament and Guardian Council passed legislation requiring Iran to significantly rachet up its nuclear activities in 60 days. That legislation passed the same day that Iran informed the IAEA of its intention to install new advanced centrifuges at the Natanz enrichment facility, marking a further violation of the nuclear deal and increasing pressure on President-elect Biden to restore U.S. diplomacy with Iran and compliance with the JCPOA.
President-elect Joe Biden has indicated his support for the 2015 nuclear deal, but going back may be complicated.
Iran has now produced about 12 times the amount of enriched uranium allowed by the 2015 nuclear deal.
The most recent IAEA report indicates that Iran’s accumulation of enriched uranium slowed over the past quarter, suggesting Tehran is showing restraint so as not to cross any red lines that might imperil a U.S. re-entry into the nuclear deal.
The Trump administration boosted its unilateral sanctions against Iran as a UN embargo on arms trade with Tehran expired.
The UN arms embargo on Iran expired on October 18, freeing Iran to buy and sell conventional weapons. The Trump administration imposed a new round of sanctions on Iran, and Iran announced the construction of a new facility at Natanz to replace what was damaged during the July sabotage attack.
In this edition of our “Critical NPT Issues” webinar series, we will review the benefits of the JCPOA, the current status of noncompliance, pathways to repair the situation, and the potential effects on the upcoming NPT Review Conference.
The Trump administration has failed to win support for its effort to reimpose UN sanctions on Iran.
The United Nations again dismissed U.S. efforts to reimpose sanctions on Iran that were lifted as a result of the nuclear deal, and Secretary-General Guterres told the Security Council he would not take steps to implement those measures. Amid U.S. efforts to block Iranian arms sales, Iran announced two new missiles and Iranian President Rouhani criticized the U.S. sanctions regime against Iran.
A Sept. 4 IAEA report confirms that Iran continues to exceed limits on its uranium enrichment program imposed by the 2015 nuclear deal and is incrementally expanding its stockpile of uranium enriched up to 4.5 percent.
The most recent IAEA report on Iran’s safeguards confirmed that Iran and the agency are following through on the terms of an Aug. 26 agreement to finally allow inspectors access to follow up on evidence of possible undeclared nuclear materials and activities.