Key Takeaways
Stalled negotiations over Iran Nuclear Deal have been unblocked after fresh talks in Tehran, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Friday, adding that he believed a final deal was within reach.
Iran Nuclear Deal (JCPOA)
- The Iran Nuclear Deal, formally known as Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) is an agreement on the Iranian nuclear program reached in Vienna on 14 July 2015, between Iran and the P5+1 (the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council—China, France, Russia, United Kingdom, United States—plus Germany).
Background of Iran Nuclear Deal (JCPOA)
- Iran received aid from the United States in developing its nuclear programme in the 1970s as part of the ‘Atoms for Peace’ programme. Iran’s Shah even signed and approved the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) in 1968 as a non-nuclear weapons state.
- When the Iranian revolution put the government’s nuclear programme into disarray and many bright scientists departed the country, everything changed. The new leadership was openly antagonistic to the United States, effectively putting an end to any chance of aid from them.
- With help from Pakistan (which signed a bilateral agreement with Iran in 1992), China (which did the same in 1990), Russia (which did the same in 1992 and 1995), and the A.Q. Khan network, Iran resurrected its nuclear programme in the late 1980s.
- Despite Iran’s claims that its nuclear programme is for peaceful reasons, Western nations and its Middle Eastern allies believed otherwise.
- Throughout the 2000s, Iran and Western nations engaged in back-and-forth negotiations that yielded little progress. Iran even built heavy water and uranium enrichment reactors, prompting economic penalties from the US and the European Union.
- The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action would not be finalised until July 15, 2015. So far, it is the most well-thought-out and solid nuclear strategy ever devised.
Goal of the deal
Agreements accepted by the P5+1 and others
- Sanctions relief: The European Union, the UN, and the United States agreed to lift the sanction on Iran with some US sanctions dating back to 1979 remaining in effect.
- These sanctions were placed due to Iran’s support of terror groups, human rights abuses, and its ballistic missiles program.
- The parties involved also agreed to lift sanctions on a Weapons embargo provided the United Nations confirms through the IAEA that Iran is only engaged in civilian nuclear activities.
Iran’s current nuclear activity
- Iran’s current nuclear activities: In 2019, Iran began enriching uranium to higher concentrations after breaching agreed-upon limits on its stockpile of low-enriched uranium (though still far short of the purity required for weapons).
- It also resumed heavy water production at its Arak plant and began enriching uranium at Fordow, rendering the isotopes generated there useless for medicinal purposes.
Content Source: The Hindu