What’s Still Wrong with the Iran Nuclear Deal?

Key Failings of JCPOA Enabled Iran’s Malign Behavior

(New York, N.Y.) – As the Trump administration prepares to brief Congress on the ongoing threat from Iran, United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) is reminding lawmakers of the troubling flaws in the Iran nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

In its analysis report, What’s Wrong with the Iran Nuclear Deal?, UANI summarizes the key failings of the JCPOA that justified the U.S. withdrawal and the initiation of the “maximum pressure campaign,” designed to bring Iran back to the negotiating table. 

For example, the JCPOA does not confirm the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program and provides a clear pathway to nuclear weapons. The sunset provisions in the JCPOA mean restrictions on Iran’s uranium-enrichment and plutonium reprocessing begin to evaporate in a few years.

Iran has test-launched multiple ballistic missiles since the JCPOA was inked in 2015. U.N. Security Council Resolution 2231, which implemented the deal, supported Iran’s ballistic-missile program. Resolution 2231 replaced previous resolution language that said Iran “shall not” engage in ballistic-missile activities with weaker language that merely “calls upon” Iran not to test any ballistic missiles “designed to be nuclear capable.”

Further, under the JCPOA, the U.N. arms embargo expires by October 2020. The U.N. restrictions on Iran’s ballistic missile program expire by October 2023. As a result, in exchange for temporary restrictions on its nuclear program, Iran received permanent sanctions relief up-front. Iran will continue to direct this support to terror proxies, like Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, and Hamas in Gaza.

To read the UANI report, What’s Wrong with the Iran Nuclear Deal?, please click here.