The United States may try to claim participation in the 2015 Iran nuclear deal to ensure the continuation of a UN embargo against Tehran.
The Trump administration is considering a range of options to prevent the October 2020 expiration of a UN embargo that restricts arms sales to and from Iran, including by making a legal case that the United States remains a participant of the JCPOA. The United States is continuing its maximum pressure campaign against Iran throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite facing economic hardship, Iran unveiled a new military-led space program and launched a new satellite in April.
Kelsey Davenport, director for nonproliferation policy, discusses the aftermath of the Trump administration withdrawing the United States from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the 2015 multilateral agreement that placed limits on Iran's nuclear program. (May 13, 2020)
The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran announced it would unveil a new generation of uranium enrichment centrifuges.
Iran Launches Military Satellite
Iran has delayed announcing updates on its nuclear achievements, perhaps due to the COVID-19 outbreak, though the IAEA is continuing inspections in the country. The United States has renewed sanctions waivers on four cooperative projects in the nuclear deal and Europe's new trade facilitation vehicle has made its first successful transaction.
As Iran stores more nuclear material than allowed by the 2015 nuclear deal, it continues to allow IAEA monitoring of its nuclear activities.
Tehran has stonewalled efforts to investigate allegations that it may be storing undeclared nuclear materials or information.
The IAEA released two new reports detailing Iran’s implementation of its broad and JCPOA-specific safeguards agreements with the Agency, indicating that Iran has not taken further steps to breach the nuclear deal. The members of the governing JCPOA Joint Commission met in Vienna in an attempt to salvage the deal, and a trade channel opened to facilitate necessary humanitarian trade with Iran.
Two new reports by the IAEA detail the status of Iran’s nuclear program and raise questions about its compliance with its international legal obligations. While Iran continues to comply with its JCPOA-related safeguards and has not taken further steps to breach the 2015 nuclear deal, the IAEA is investigating possible undeclared nuclear activities likely related to Iran’s pre-2004 nuclear weapons research.
By triggering the JCPOA's dispute resolution mechanism, three European nations hope to save the accord.
Iran presses forward with new technologies.
Iran has taken no additional steps to violate the JCPOA after announcing its fifth breach earlier this year, the IAEA head reports. Despite triggering the deal’s dispute resolution mechanism, Europe remains committed to preserving the agreement and will continue to push back against Washington’s pressure to abandon the accord, according to the EU foreign policy chief.
While Iran’s violations of the accord are serious, they are reversible and they do not suggest, as some have alleged, that Iran is dashing to acquire a nuclear bomb.