17. Nuclear arms control and non-proliferation

Chapter:

17. Nuclear arms control and non-proliferation

Source:

SIPRI Yearbook 2016

Author(s):

Tariq Rauf

The highlight in nuclear non-proliferation in 2015 was the landmark multinational agreement on limitations on Iran’s nuclear programme (see section I). The negotiations between Iran and France, Germany and the United Kingdom (the E3), China, Russia and the United States (+3), facilitated by the European Union (EU), jointly referred to as E3/EU+3, yielded the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which defined a mutually agreed long-term solution to ensure Iran’s nuclear programme will remain exclusively peaceful under a wide-ranging monitoring and verification regime implemented by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The JCPOA was signed in Vienna on 14 July 2015 in parallel with the ‘Road-map for the clarification of past and present outstanding issues regarding Iran’s nuclear programme’ signed by Iran and the IAEA. The provisions of the JCPOA were incorporated into United Nations Security Council Resolution 2231, which paved the way for the lifting of all multilateral sanctions on Iran.