This archive report was first published on 5 November 2019.
Published on November 5, 2019, the Iran nuclear deal, signed in 2015, aimed to reduce Iran's nuclear program in exchange for relief from sanctions. The agreement involved Iran and six world powers: the United States, China, France, Russia, Britain, and Germany, as well as the European Union.
However, the deal has been under strain since the United States withdrew from it in 2017. President Trump reimposed old sanctions and added new ones, crippling Iran's economy. Iran has argued that it cannot abide by the deal as long as the sanctions remain in place.
Iran has also expressed its willingness to adhere to the agreement if the European partners could lessen the effect of the sanctions. The European signatories, still supporting the deal, have sought to find ways to address Iran's concerns but have been unable to come up with alternatives that satisfy Tehran without running afoul of the United States sanctions.
Maja Kocijancic, a European Commission spokeswoman, expressed concern over the situation, urging Iran to reverse earlier breaches of the nuclear deal and refrain from any further moves that would undermine it.
Russia's stance on the issue is nuanced, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitri S. Peskov expressing sympathy for Iran's plight due to the 'unprecedented and illegitimate sanctions' against it. Russia's state-run nuclear company, Rosatom, has been granted a waiver to continue work at the Fordow site, but Moscow does not expect the recent developments to affect its role there.
The Fordow fuel enrichment plant, discovered in April 2008, has been a point of contention. Unlike the facility at Natanz, it is too small to produce an effective amount of nuclear fuel for civilian purposes, leading the West to conclude that its purpose was to help create a nuclear weapon. Iran has consistently denied that it is seeking to build a bomb.
