Iran withdraws from the JCPOA deal completely

On January 5, 2020, Iran had completely withdrawn from JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) nuclear deal. The announcement came after the US troops killed General Qassem Soleimani.

Highlights

In 2018, the United States walked away from the nuclear deal. However, the other participants such as Russia, China, European Union, France, Germany and UK tried to keep the agreement alive. According to the deal, Iran curbed its nuclear programme in exchange to relief from sanctions.

Several organisations including the United Nations found that Iran was compliant towards the agreement. However, US was insistent on withdrawing from the agreement.

Why did US pull out of the deal?

According to the Unites States, the JCPOA gives Iran access to billions of dollars. However, its does not stop Iran from supporting the groups that US and its allies consider terrorists. It mainly includes Hamas and Hezbollah.

Hamas

Hamas is a Sunni-Islamic militant organisation. It was founded in 1987 and since then has fought several wars against US, Israel and European Union. Some of the countries that were constantly supporting Hamas were China, Russia and Turkey.

Hezbollah

The organisation was founded in 1980s and its members follow Shia Islamism. Hezbollah currently is a proxy of Iran in the ongoing Iran-Israel conflict.

Month: Current Affairs - January, 2020