Iran announces official termination of 10-year nuclear deal

The international agreement with Iran designed to protect the world from the spread of nuclear weapons has officially ended. Tehran has announced the termination of the ten-year document. This was reported by the newspaper The Guardian.

Iran's Foreign Ministry said on Saturday that Tehran is no longer bound by the 2015 agreement, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), under which international sanctions were lifted in exchange for curbs on the country's nuclear program.

The statement said that from now on, "all provisions [of the 2015 agreement], including restrictions on Iran's nuclear program and related mechanisms, are considered terminated".

The Iranian Foreign Ministry added that the country "strongly expresses its commitment to diplomacy".

The agreement signed in Vienna by Iran, China, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Russia, and the United States was intended to end years of diplomatic confrontation and mark the beginning of a new era in relations between Iran and the West. Although the deal expired on October 18, it has been in crisis for years.

In 2018, Donald Trump during his first presidential term angered European allies by unilaterally withdrawing the United States from the deal and reimposing sanctions. After that, Tehran stepped up its nuclear program.

European-led negotiations to renew the deal have failed, and this summer's bombing of Iran by Israel and the United States has left hopes for its revival at an all-time low.

In June, the Iranian parliament passed a law to terminate cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which was another step toward breaking the agreement.

In response, the United Kingdom, Germany, and France launched the so-called sanctions reimposition procedure, which provides for the automatic reinstatement of United Nations restrictions if Iran violates its obligations.

Thus, the "day of termination" scheduled for October 18 – exactly 10 years after the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 2231 – was just a formality that cemented the final collapse of the agreement.

• On September 27, the UN renewed the arms embargo and other sanctions against Iran. Earlier, they were announced by Macron, as negotiations on the nuclear program did not yield the desired result.
• On the same day, WP wrote that Iran has accelerated construction at a mysterious underground facility near the Natanz nuclear complex, months after the US and Israel destroyed its main nuclear facilities.