Senior Policy Director Alexandra Bell spoke to The Washington Post about President Trump’s claim that Iran could build nuclear weapons in seven years under the JCPOA.
The president may have been referring to “Termination Day” in October 2025, when provisions of a U.N. resolution endorsing the deal expire, or he may have been referring to the fact that some provisions of the JCPOA itself expire 10 years into the deal, also in 2025.
“Nevertheless, President Trump’s statement indicates either abject confusion over the parameters of the JCPOA or a willful misinterpretation of that deal,” said Alexandra Bell, senior policy director at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation. “Either way, it is dangerous, as Iran will never be ‘free to go ahead and create nuclear weapons.’ ”
As a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty, Iran has pledged not to develop nuclear weapons — ever. In agreeing to the JCPOA, Iran recommitted itself to the Non-Proliferation Treaty, Bell said. “The NPT is of indefinite duration and serves as the underpinning for the entire global nonproliferation regime,” she said. Read more