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Timeline: Iran's troubled nuclear deal since Trump exit
Tehran, Nov 4 (AFP) Nov 04, 2021
With talks on reviving a landmark 2015 agreement on Iran's nuclear programme poised to resume, we look at sanctions and brinkmanship since the United States pulled out of the pact in May 2018.

Here is a timeline:

- 2018: US withdrawal -


President Donald Trump walks away from the deal negotiated between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the US -- plus Germany on May 8, 2018.

"We cannot prevent an Iranian nuclear bomb under the decaying and rotten structure of the current agreement," he says.

- US sanctions -


Later that year, Washington reimposes sanctions on Iran and companies with ties to it, badly hitting Iran's vital oil sector and central bank.

Major international firms halt activities there as the US bans other nations from buying Iranian crude.

- 2019: Iran starts walk-back -


In May 2019, Iran takes its first step away from the deal, aiming to pressure Europe into helping it circumvent the sanctions.

Trump hits back by sanctioning Iran's steel and mining sectors.

In July, Tehran says it has exceeded the accord's restrictions on both its enriched uranium reserves and enrichment levels.

- 10-fold increase -


In September 2019, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) watchdog says Iran has started using advanced centrifuges to enrich uranium.

In November, Tehran says its enrichment increased tenfold and that it has developed two new advanced centrifuges.

It then resumes enrichment at its Fordo plant.

- 2020: Drone assassination -


Tensions between Washington and Tehran spiral after a US drone strike in January kills top Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad, sparking a tit-for-tat confrontation.

Iran announces its fifth step back, foregoing a limit on its number of centrifuges.

- Iranian demands -


In February 2020, Iran demands economic advantages from Europe in return for cancelling all, or part, of its rollback measures.

In March, European signatories say they have delivered medical goods to Iran under a mechanism established to bypass US sanctions.

On November 27, one of Iran's top nuclear scientists, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, is killed near Tehran in an attack that Iran blames on Israel.

- 2021: New breach -


With Trump in his last days in the White House and tensions spiralling, Tehran deals the accord a further blow on January 4 by saying it has resumed enriching uranium to 20 percent purity at Fordo.

The IAEA in February says Iran has started producing uranium metal, which can be used in nuclear weapons.

It is also "deeply concerned" by the possible presence of nuclear material at an undeclared site as Iran restricts inspections.

- 60 percent enrichment -


On April 7, with President Joe Biden in the White House, talks on rescuing the accord begin in Vienna.

But nine days later Iran says it will start enriching uranium up to 60 percent after an attack on its Natanz plant that it blames on Israel.

- Iran hits pause button -


Iran pauses talks in June after the election of hardline new president, Ebrahim Raisi.

But on August 5, he says it is again open to negotiations as experts warn nuclear work is continuing apace and advancing to dangerous levels.

- Tehran ready to talk -


On October 13, Washington raises the spectre of a military option as Europe presses Iran to rejoin the talks suspended since June.

On October 27, after a meeting in Brussels, Iran says it is ready to resume indirect talks in Vienna.

The US calls on it to show "good faith" when they start on November 29, saying a compromise could be reached quickly if Tehran is "serious".


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