Ten Years On, Iran Nuke Deal Ends with a Whimper

Iran has announced the official end of the 2015 nuclear agreement, saying it is no longer bound by the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and that all restrictions and related mechanisms under the accord are terminated, The Guardian reported.

In a statement on Saturday, Iran’s foreign ministry said, “all of the provisions [of the 2015 deal] … are considered terminated,” while adding that Tehran “firmly expresses its commitment to diplomacy.” The JCPOA, signed in Vienna by Iran, China, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and the United States, traded sanctions relief for limits on Iran’s nuclear program.

The accord has frayed for years. In 2018, then–U.S. president Donald Trump withdrew from the deal and reimposed sanctions, after which Iran expanded its nuclear activities. European-led efforts to revive the pact failed and hopes dimmed further after Israeli and U.S. bombing raids on Iran this summer.

Following that 12-day conflict in June, Iran’s parliament passed a bill to stop cooperating with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Britain, France and Germany subsequently triggered the U.N. “snapback” mechanism, reinstating sanctions that had been lifted under the JCPOA. Those measures made Saturday’s “termination day,” set for 18 October, 10 years after U.N. Security Council Resolution 2231 was adopted, largely a formality, the newspaper said.

European officials have stressed they still want a diplomatic path. Last month, the foreign ministers of the UK, France and Germany said they would seek “a new diplomatic solution to ensure Iran never gets a nuclear weapon,” and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said renewed sanctions “must not be the end of diplomacy,” the news outlet reported.