U.S. Withdraws from Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (May 8, 2018) [1]
On May 8, 2018, U.S. President Donald Trump announced [3] that the United States will withdraw from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and reinstate U.S. nuclear sanctions on the Iranian regime. The P5+1 (China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States), the European Union (EU), and Iran completed the JCPOA [4] on July 14, 2015, in order to impose restrictions on Iran’s civilian nuclear enrichment program and allow access for international inspectors to monitor Iran’s compliance with the agreement. In October 2017, Trump announced that he would not recertify the JCPOA, a requirement imposed by the U.S. Congress under the Nuclear Agreement Review Act, saying that it was not in the national interest, and in January Trump threatened to pull out of the agreement unless its “disastrous flaws” were fixed by May 12. In the White House statement, Trump states that the U.S. will cease all participation in the JCPOA, the U.S. will re-impose all sanctions that had been lifted in relation to the JCPOA, the U.S. Department of Defense will take steps to ensure Iran does not develop or acquire nuclear weapons, and agencies will take steps to continue monitoring Iran’s nuclear conduct.