- Title: On its fifth anniversary, the Iran nuclear deal hangs by a thread.
- Date: 13th July 2020
- Summary: Iran and six major world powers reached a historic deal on July 14, 2015, lifting sanctions imposed by the United States, European Union and United Nations in return for Iran agreeing to long-term curbs on its nuclear programme. For then-U.S. president Barack Obama the diplomacy with Iran begun in secret more than two years earlier. While the main negotiations were between the United States and Iran, the four other U.N. Security Council permanent members - Britain, China, France and Russia - were also parties to the deal, as was Germany. VIENNA, AUSTRIA (FILE - JULY 14, 2015) (REUTERS) ***WARNING: CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** FOREIGN MINISTERS OF THE P5+1 COUNTRIES, (FROM LEFT TO RIGHT) CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTER WANG YI, FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTER LAURENT FABIUS, GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER FRANK-WALTER STEINMEIER, EUROPEAN UNION FOREIGN POLICY CHIEF FEDERICA MOGHERINI, FOREIGN MINISTER OF IRAN MOHAMMAD JAVAD ZARIF, HEAD OF THE IRANIAN ATOMIC NUCLEAR ORGANISATION ALI AKBAR SALEHI. RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER SERGEI LAVROV, BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY PHILIP HAMMOND, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE JOHN KERRY AND U.S. ENERGY SECRETARY ERNEST MONIZ LINED UP FOR GROUP PHOTO ZARIF LAUGHING / EUROPEAN UNION FOREIGN POLICY CHIEF FEDERICA MOGHERINI, STANDING NEXT TO HIM SERGEI LAVROV (LEFT) STANDING WITH PHILIP HAMMOND (MIDDLE) AND JOHN KERRY (RIGHT) European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini announced Iran and six major powers reached an agreement to curb the Iranian nuclear programme in exchange for economic sanctions relief. VIENNA, AUSTRIA (FILE - JULY 14, 2015) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) EUROPEAN UNION FOREIGN POLICY CHIEF FEDERICA MOGHERINI, SAYING: "Today is an historic day. It's a great honour for us to announce that we have reached an agreement on the Iranian nuclear issue. With courage, political will, mutual respect and leadership, we delivered on what the world was hoping for - a shared commitment to peace and to join hands in order to make our world safer."
- Embargoed: 27th July 2020 07:54
- Keywords: 2015 nuclear deal French President Emmanuel Macron Hassan Rouhani IAEA Iran Iran nuclear Russia Tehran U.S. President Donald Trump nuclear deal uranium enrichment
- Location: VARIOUS
- City: VARIOUS
- Country: Various
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace
- Reuters ID: LVA001CMNU4AV
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: EDITORS NOTE: JULY 14 MARKS FIVE YEARS SINCE AGREEMENT REACHED WITH IRAN OVER ITS NUCLEAR ACTIVITIES
The Iran nuclear deal was left hanging by a thread in 2020 after Tehran announced it would abandon limitations on enriching uranium - a move Germany's Foreign Minister Heiko Maas warned could be the beginning of the end of the nuclear accord.
The deal to curb Iran's nuclear program in exchange for economic sanctions relief was agreed in 2015 between Iran and six major world powers.
Iran had been expected to lay out its latest position on the deal earlier this year, but after the U.S. drone killing of top Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani there was a major escalation of hostilities with Washington.
Tehran had already been overstepping limits on its nuclear activities in response to the U.S. withdrawal from the deal in 2018 and the subsequent reimposition of sanctions that have crippled Iran's oil trade.
European governments have sought to rescue the accord.
Tehran said it would continue to cooperate with the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog and said it can quickly reverse the steps it is taking if U.S. sanctions are removed.
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