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.
In announcing it is no longer bound by key 2015 nuclear deal limits, Iran nevertheless pledged to continue its cooperation with the IAEA.
Iran announced its fifth breach of the JCPOA on Jan. 5 but stated it would continue to cooperate fully with the IAEA. Iran did not withdraw from the 2015 nuclear deal and remains party to the NPT. In response to the violation, European members of the JCPOA threatened again to trigger the dispute resolution mechanism, which could incur a snapback of UN sanctions lifted under the deal, but Russia and China appear less concerned.
Since May 2019, Iran has breached limits imposed by the JCPOA every 60 days. While none of the violations pose a near-term proliferation risk, taken together, Iran’s systematic and provocative violations of the nuclear deal are cause for concern and jeopardize the future of the deal.
Iran takes fourth retaliatory step after U.S. pullout from 2015 agreement.
A special issue reporting on the details of the November 11, 2019, IAEA report.
In Iran's most recent breach of the JCPOA, President Hassan Rouhani directed technicians to feed UF6 into centrifuges at the Fordow facility, which is intended to be converted to a research and medical isotope facility, and the U.S. renewed sanctions waivers to allow for continued nonproliferation projects at Fordow and elsewhere, but it is unclear whether the sanctions waiver for Fordow will be revoked.
Iran may be trying to leverage greater European action for the sanctions relief, but its latest actions will further complicate tensions
A French effort nearly brought together the United States and Iran to address the troubled JCPOA.
Iran has begun to test advanced centrifuges as it furthers its noncompliance with the 2015 nuclear deal.