Table of Contents
Iran Nuclear Program
The Deal
- Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action commonly known as Iran deal, is a detailed, 159-page agreement with five annexes reached by Iran and the P5+1 & European Union in Vienna on 14 July 2015.
The News
- Iran had began rolling back on most of its commitments under the accord after the United States unilaterally withdrew in May 2018 and began reimposing crippling economic sanctions.
- The renegotiations were underway since the Biden administration has come in 2021. The ongoing eighth round of talks between Iran and P4+1, with the EU coordinator of the joint commission Enrique Mora playing the intermediary between the US and Iranian delegations, has been going on since December 27, 2021.
The News
The Progress
- Already, Iran was playing hardball. Iran continued to stonewall IAEA efforts to clarify its safeguards declaration and ensure continuity of knowledge at the Karaj centrifuge component manufacturing facility.
- Another key sticking point, though not directly related to the nuclear deal, is Iran’s demand that President Joe Biden reverse his predecessor’s designation of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation. The Guards are the ideological arm of Iran’s military.
The News
- Now, the Russia-Ukraine matter has complicated the issue.
- Negotiations were paused since March 11, after Russia demanded guarantees that Western sanctions imposed following its invasion of Ukraine would not damage its trade with Iran.
- Days later on March 15, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow had received the guarantees from USA.
The News
The News
The Big Question
- Is a new deal possible without Russia?
- Iran’s first nuclear power plant, the Bushehr I reactor, was completed with major assistance from the Russian government agency Rosatom in 2011.
- Fordow research center has more than 1000 centrifuges. It has been a research centre with assistance from Russia in Iran.
- Iran has long standing alliance with Russia.
- Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh has said that a deal without Russia wasn’t under consideration.
Unpredictable Iran
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