Context

China has called for a ‘new forum’ to defuse tensions in West Asia. China has reaffirmed its commitment to Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, an implicit rebuke of the U.S. for abandoning the accord.

Iran’s nuclear deal

• In 2015, Iran agreed on a long-term deal on its nuclear program with a group of world powers known as the P5+1 – the US, UK, France, China, Russia, and Germany.
• Negotiations between the P5+1 and Iran yielded the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in July 2015, a comprehensive 25-year nuclear agreement limiting Iran’s nuclear capacity in exchange for sanctions relief.
• Under the accord, Iran agreed to limit its sensitive nuclear activities and allow international inspectors in return for the lifting of crippling economic sanctions.

The US’s withdrawal

• President Donald J. Trump withdrew the United States from the agreement in May 2018, saying it failed to address Iran’s ballistic missile program and its role in regional wars.
• Following the U.S. killing of Iranian military commander QasemSoleimani in January 2020, Iran announced plans to halt most of its commitments to the deal.

Iran says

Iran said that it would “automatically” fulfill the nuclear commitments if the US rejoins the Nuclear Accord of 2015 and lifts sanctions.

Criticism of Iran

• The International Atomic Energy Association raised its serious concern over Iran’s nuclear sites and the country’s failure to cooperate with an agency probe into undeclared nuclear material in the country.
  • Iran has been enriching uranium hexafluoride gas to 4.5% of the fissile isotope uranium-235 (U-235) over the past year.
  • By 20 May, it had stockpiled 1572 kilograms of enriched uranium, ostensibly for use in civilian reactors.