Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in the context of Iran nuclear deal framework

The Iran nuclear deal framework was a preliminary framework agreement reached in 2015 between the Islamic Republic of Iran and a group of world powers: the P5+1 (the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council—the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, France, and China—plus Germany) and the European Union.

Based on the April 2015 Iran nuclear deal framework, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action between Iran and the P5+1 and EU was announced on July 14, 2015 in Vienna.

The Iran–Israel war (13 June – 24 June 2025), also known as the Twelve-Day War, was an armed conflict in the Middle East. The war began when Israel bombed military and nuclear facilities in Iran in a surprise attack, assassinating prominent military leaders, nuclear scientists, and politicians, killing civilians, and damaging or destroying air defenses. Iran retaliated with over 550 ballistic missiles and over 1,000 suicide drones, hitting civilian population centers, one hospital and at least twelve military, energy, and government sites. The United States intercepted Iranian attacks, and bombed three Iranian nuclear sites on 22 June. Iran retaliated by firing missiles at a US base in Qatar. On 24 June, Israel and Iran agreed to a ceasefire under US pressure.

The war followed a decades-long proxy war. Iran has called for Israel's destruction, and armed Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Following the October 7 attacks in 2023, both entered open conflict with Israel. In April 2024, Israel bombed Iran's consulate in Damascus, Syria, killing senior Iranian military officials. Direct conflict continued in April and October. Iran's nuclear program has caused international concern for over a decade. Israel considers it an existential threat. In 2015, under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), six countries lifted sanctions on Iran, which froze its nuclear program. In 2018, US president Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the plan. Iran began stockpiling enriched uranium and largely suspended International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) monitoring. The day before Israel attacked, the IAEA declared Iran non-compliant with its nuclear obligations in a resolution put forward by the United States, United Kingdom, France, and Germany.

The Fordow Uranium Enrichment Plant, officially the Shahid Ali Mohammadi Nuclear Facility (Persian: تأسیسات هسته‌ای شهید علی‌محمدی), is an Iranian underground uranium enrichment facility located 30 kilometres (20 mi) north of the Iranian city of Qom, at a former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps base. The site is under the control of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI). It is the second Iranian uranium enrichment facility, the other being the Natanz Nuclear Facility.

Under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action effective January 2016, Fordow was to cease uranium enrichment for 15 years, and carry out civilian research and production.

The United States announced its withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the "Iran nuclear deal" or the "Iran deal", on May 8, 2018. The JCPOA is an agreement on Iran's nuclear program reached in July 2015 by Iran and the P5+1 (the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council—China, France, Russia, United Kingdom, United States—plus Germany) also called E3/EU+3.

In a joint statement responding to the U.S. withdrawal, the leaders of France, Germany and the United Kingdom stated that the United Nations Security Council resolution endorsing the nuclear deal remained the "binding international legal framework for the resolution of the dispute".

Mohammad Javad Zarif (Persian pronunciation: [mohæmːædd͡ʒæˌvɒːde zæˌɾiːf]; born 8 January 1960) is an Iranian career diplomat and academic. He served as the vice president for strategic affairs from August 2024 to March 2025. He was the foreign minister of Iran from 2013 until 2021 in the government of Hassan Rouhani.

During his tenure as foreign minister, Zarif led the Iranian negotiation with P5+1 countries which produced the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on 14 July 2015, lifting the economic sanctions against Iran on 16 January 2016. Zarif resigned from his post as foreign minister in February 2019. His resignation was rejected by Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei, and he continued as foreign minister.

The P5+1 refers to the UN Security Council's five permanent members (the P5); namely China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States; plus Germany. The P5+1 is often referred to as the E3+3 by European countries. It is a group of six world powers which, in 2006, joined in diplomatic efforts with Iran with regard to its nuclear program.

On 24 November 2013, the Joint Plan of Action (برنامه اقدام مشترک), also known as the Geneva interim agreement (Persian: توافق هسته‌ای ژنو), was a pact signed between Iran and the P5+1 countries in Geneva, Switzerland. It consists of a short-term freeze of portions of Iran's nuclear program in exchange for decreased economic sanctions on Iran, as the countries work towards a long-term agreement. It represented the first formal agreement between the United States and Iran in 34 years. Implementation of the agreement began 20 January 2014.

The Joint Plan of Action and the negotiations under it which followed eventually led to an April 2015 framework agreement and then a July 2015 final agreement, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

The background to the Iran–Israel war (13–24 June 2025) focuses on historical events during their proxy conflict since 1985, including scrutiny of Iran's nuclear program in the 1980s and 1990s, Iran signing the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in 2015, and US President Donald Trump suspending US participation in the deal in 2018. In the past, Israel has fought wars with Iranian proxies including against Hezbollah since the 1982 Lebanon War.

In 2015, six countries negotiated the JCPOA nuclear deal to lift sanctions on Iran and freeze Iran's nuclear program. In 2018, US president Trump unilaterally withdrew from and voided the JCPOA, after which Iran began stockpiling enriched uranium, and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) lost the ability to monitor Iran's nuclear facilities.