Sanctions against Iran in the context of "Science and technology in Iran"

The 2010s oil glut was a significant surplus of crude oil that started in 2014–2015 and accelerated in 2016, with multiple causes. They include general oversupply as unconventional US and Canadian tight oil (shale oil) production reached critical volumes, geopolitical rivalries among oil-producing nations, falling demand across commodities markets due to the deceleration of the Chinese economy, and possible restraint of long-term demand as environmental policy promotes fuel efficiency and steers an increasing share of energy consumption away from fossil fuels.

The world price of oil was above US$125 per barrel ($790/m) in 2012, and remained relatively strong above $100 until September 2014, after which it entered a sharp downward spiral, falling below $30 by January 2016. OPEC production was poised to rise further with the lifting of international sanctions against Iran, at a time when markets already appeared to be oversupplied by at least 2 million barrels (320,000 m) per day.

Since the Iranian Revolution in 1979, the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran has been accused by several countries of training, financing, and providing weapons and safe havens for non-state militant actors, such as Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, and other Palestinian groups such as the Islamic Jihad (IJ) and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). These groups are designated terrorist groups by a number of countries and international bodies such as the EU, UN, and NATO, but Iran considers such groups to be "national liberation movements" with a right to self-defense against Israeli military occupation. These proxies are used by Iran across the Middle East and Europe to foment instability, expand the scope of the Islamic Revolution, and carry out terrorist attacks against Western targets in the regions. Its special operations unit, the Quds Force, is known to provide arms, training, and financial support to militias and political movements across the Middle East, including Bahrain, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, and Yemen.

A number of countries (Argentina, Albania, Australia, Bulgaria, Denmark, France, India, Kenya, Sweden, Thailand, United States) have accused the Iranian government and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps of plotting assassinations or bombings in their countries and others against perceived enemies of Iran. In response, economic sanctions against the Iranian regime have been imposed by many countries and the United Nations. The first sanctions were imposed by the United States in November 1979, after a group of radical students seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran and took hostages. The sanctions were expanded in 1995 to include business dealings with the Iranian government. However, these sanctions have not significantly impacted the country's relationships with its proxies. The United States Department of State estimated that Iran spent more than $16 billion in support of the Assad regime and its proxies between 2012 and 2020, a period in which Iran funneled more than $700 million to Hezbollah.

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.

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.