President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that the U.S. will withdraw from the international nuclear accord with Iran, the landmark 2015 agreement curbing Iran’s nuclear development program in return for sanctions relief.
By ending America’s participation in the deal, Trump fulfills a major campaign promise. But the decision could set the stage for an international political crisis and uncertainty over the future of Iran’s nuclear program.
Here’s what you need to know about the agreement:
The Deal
Also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the deal is the result of a decade of international negotiations to curb Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.
Although Iran is banned from possessing nuclear weapons as a state party of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, it failed to disclose the existence of its uranium-enrichment program for 18 years, causing alarm when its clandestine program was revealed in 2003.
Negotiators from Iran and six other world powers, including the United Nations Security Council’s five permanent members and Germany, reached the historic agreement on July 14, 2015. It placed strict limits on Tehran’s nuclear program that were set to last for more than a decade.
Read the complete article in The Huffington Post.