The Iran Nuclear Deal: Potential Breaches Occurred By Iran And Its Implications

In 2015 the United States, the Iran, Russia, China, the United Kingdom, France and Germany signed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, also known as JCPOA or the Iranian Nuclear Deal. Throughout the last three years there has been much debate about whether or not Iran has complied with the arrangement and, for that exact reason, the United States has since exited the deal. However, the recent allegations made by President Trump sparked heated controversy as to whether or not Iran had actually violated the agreement or not. Ultimately, that is the question: has Iran actually violated the terms of the Nuclear Deal?

The framework for the Nuclear Deal had been in the works for years before the P5+1, which refers to the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany, finalized and implemented it in July of 2015. P5+1 met with Iran in Geneva for the first time in November 2013 with the intention of creating and closing the deal. The parties could not reach an agreement; however, they would meet two more times before the deal’s implementation. The agreement would first begin as the Joint Plan of Action and eventually become the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which included Iran’s nuclear cooperation in exchange for loosened sanctions. The agreement also included the condition that the International Atomic Energy Agency would have frequent access to all of Iran’s nuclear facilities. Iran decreased its uranium enrichment to 20% and its enriched uranium supply from 20% to 3.5%. The United States and the European Union also issued separate statements that included schedules for oil money payments to Iran. Endorsed by UN Security Council Resolution 2231, P5+1 confirmed the 159 page document on July 14, 2015. The intention was for the Nuclear Deal to last for fifteen years after its implementation.

The first sign of Iran not complying with the conditions of the deal was in September 2015 when IAEA expressed their concerns related to Iran’s conducting of explosive activities “relevant to a nuclear device”. Less than a month later, Iran tested a medium range ballistic missile. The United States brought up as ballistic missile tests as a possible violation of the UN Security Resolution 1929, which was still in effect until the Nuclear Deal’s projected implementation in January 2016.The Resolution stated that Iran could not test ballistic missiles with nuclear capabilities. On November 21st, Iran then conducted another medium range missile test, this time of the Ghadr-110 missile, with which Iran had run tests on how to shrink a nuclear device to fit into the nose of the missile. Samantha Power, the then United States UN ambassador, said that Washington was “conducting a serious review of the reported incident” and that, if the results were condemning, the US would take it up with the Security Council. There was never any follow up.

In March of the following year, two months after the JCPOA’s implementation, Iran ran yet another ballistic missile test, this time in clear violation of the terms of the agreement. The Nuclear Dead states clearly that “Iran will not undertake any ballistic missiles activity until the date eight years after the JCPOA Adoption Day or until the date on which the IAEA submits a report confirming the Broader Conclusion, whichever is earlier.” The two missiles were both guided missiles that were accurate up to 25 feet, according to Brigadier General Ali Abdollahi, the Iranian military’s deputy chief of staff.