Iran Nuclear Agreement

The Iran nuclear agreement was a major victory for national and global security. Negotiated by the US and other world powers, the agreement stopped an Iranian bomb from being developed without starting a new war in the Middle East. Civil society played a critical role in this historic victory.

President Trump has violated the agreement, but the fight isn’t over. The landmark 2015 agreement remains fragile even though it’s working, keeping both US troops and the world safer. As former Secretary of State John Kerry warned, the re-imposition of sanctions could cause the landmark accord to unravel. In the face of these challenges, Ploughshares Fund and its grantees are working harder than ever to protect this important accord from those who seek to undermine it.

Latest News and Analysis on the Ongoing Struggle to Defend the Iran Nuclear Agreement

  • Given regional tensions, much of the discourse surrounding Iran’s nuclear capacity centers not on the countries negotiating, but on the security needs of Israel. The vital and diverse discourse around this subject was on display last week at a Jerusalem conference on regional security and foreign policy hosted by Ploughshares Fund grantees The Center for American Progress and Molad: The Center for the Renewal of Israeli Democracy. Designed to cultivate discussion among Israeli and American progressive thinkers, the conference served to highlight the alignment of the countries’ interests and to break past assumptions about Israeli perspectives on nuclear negotiations. As Herzog told Think Progress reporter Benjamin Armbruster: “I think the P5+1 are on top of it.”

    April 8, 2014 - By Emily Hauser
  • Another round of talks between Iran and the P5+1 countries (the US, UK, France, China, Russia and Germany) took place this week. Word is that all sides feel they’re on the right path to a final deal. You could almost forget that elsewhere in Europe, most of members of the P5+1 group spent the week squaring off over the powder keg of the Ukraine crisis.

    March 19, 2014 - By Emily Hauser
  • The number of nuclear weapons in the world tops 17,000, yet none of them belong to Iran.

    While negotiators work for a verifiable deal that would prevent Iran from ever obtaining nuclear arms – it’s important to remember that the current negotiations also have the potential to strengthen international security, and move us forward on a path to a nuclear weapons-free tomorrow.

    March 10, 2014 - By Emily Hauser
  • No negotiation process is easy or smooth, particularly between long-time rivals. Some Westerners are worried that Iran can’t be trusted to negotiate in good faith.

    February 28, 2014 - By Emily Hauser
  • How old is Iran’s nuclear program, how did it come into being, and who’s in charge? If you want to test your own knowledge of these facts, click here to take the Ploughshares Fund quiz! But if you’d rather peek at a study guide first – we’re here to help.

    February 19, 2014 - By Emily Hauser
  • As Iran and six of the world's major powers reconvene in Geneva to negotiate a final resolution of the nuclear crisis, it is clear that Iranian hardliners and Israeli skepticism are not the only stumbling blocks. There is another entity threatening to upend the negotiations: the legacy of American neoconservatives.

    February 13, 2014 - By Lisa Bergstrom
  • The stakes could not be higher—or the issues tougher—as the world’s six major powers and Iran launch talks February 18 on final resolution of the Iranian nuclear crisis.

    February 10, 2014 - By Joe Cirincione
  • Sitting at the Chicago airport, snow swirling outside, salt covering my shoes, eagerly waiting for my delayed flight to take me back to San Francisco, I contemplate the previous month of travel with Joe Cirincione.

    February 7, 2014 - By Elizabeth Warner
  • It is hard to turn on a TV, crack open a newspaper or turn on the radio without hearing something about the Iran nuclear deal. This deal represents the first step in negotiating an end to the threat of an Iranian nuclear weapon as well as an historical rapprochement after 30 years of misunderstanding. Among the fray, you’re likely to find more than a few Ploughshares Fund grantees.

    January 27, 2014 - By admin
  • The recent first-step nuclear deal with Iran will strengthen U.S. security by verifiably halting Iran’s program and setting a path for rolling it back through comprehensive nuclear negotiations.  So why are some in Congress opposing the deal, and what outcome do they expect if they scuttle diplomacy?

    It’s important to remember what the U.S. gets with this deal, versus the alternative.

    January 15, 2014 - By Joel Rubin