The US withdrawal from Iran's nuclear deal: reasons and consequences

Abstract

Signing Iran’s nuclear deal in 2015, was a hope to solve the problem of Iran’s nuclear program – a disputed issue between Iran and the west for more than a decade. After three years, this issue has again become a controversial subject between the United States (US) and other signatories of the deal as the result of the US president Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the deal unilaterally on 8 May 2018. This step was a beginning of tensions between the US and Iran and paved the way to renew economic sanctions on Iran – even the US placed the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) into foreign terrorist organizations list and deployed military forces in the Middle East as a preparation for a conflict. These events put Iran’s nuclear deal into uncertain future and brought a wide International and regional reaction against the Trump’s act. Following the US withdrawing from the deal, Iran maintained its obligation with the deal, but finally after a year decided to suspend some part of its commitment to the deal. This paper aims at studying the reasons behind the US decision to withdraw from Iran’s nuclear deal and examining the future of Iran’s nuclear deal, and finally proposing some scenarios to the future of US –Iranian relations.