Updated March 2022
Diplomats from China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, Iran and the United States have been meeting in Vienna for months to resolve the Iranian nuclear crisis. The delegations are attempting to negotiate the revival of the Iran nuclear deal, known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The core bargain of the deal can still be revived—an exchange of sanctions relief for significantly constraining Iran’s nuclear program—but there is little time as Iran’s program marches forward. In May 2019, one year after the United States withdrew, Iran began incrementally breaching the limits of the JCPOA. Pursuant to legislation passed by the Iranian parliament to gather leverage in the negotiations and respond to the assassination of nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakrizadeh, Iran is now further downgrading compliance with the deal until it receives sanctions relief. Below are Iran’s JCPOA obligations, the status of those obligations and the steps needed to restore the deal’s nuclear limits.
