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Iran announces JCPOA termination; blasts UN resolutions revival
Iran’s Foreign Ministry said on Saturday that all provisions of the UN Security Council Resolution 2231 regarding the 2015 Iran nuclear deal are to be considered terminated from now on as a ten-year period set out in the resolution came to an end on October 18, 2025.
In a statement on the “termination date” of the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the ministry said that Iran is no longer bound by restrictions on its nuclear program as the landmark 10-year deal expired, though Tehran reiterated its “commitment to diplomacy.”
The 2015 deal — signed in Vienna by Iran, China, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and the United States — saw the lifting of international sanctions against the Islamic Republic in exchange for restrictions on its nuclear program.
But the pact had already been in tatters after Washington unilaterally withdrew during President Donald Trump’s first term, with Iran later pulling back from its commitments in response.
The European parties to the deal also failed to fulfill their commitment to the agreement. Several rounds of talks to revive the agreement failed, and in August, the UK, Germany and France triggered the so-called “snapback” process on the pretext of Iran’s non-compliance with its obligations, leading to the re-imposition of the UN sanctions. The move rendered the accord effectively moot.
No more restrictions
From now on, “all of the provisions (of the deal), including the restrictions on the Iranian nuclear program and the related mechanisms are considered terminated,” Iran’s Foreign Ministry said in its statement.
“Iran firmly expresses its commitment to diplomacy,” it added.
The deal’s “termination day” was set for October 18, 2025, exactly 10 years after it was enshrined in the UN’s Security Council resolution 2231.
The accord capped Iran’s uranium enrichment at 3.67 percent in exchange for sanctions relief and provided for strict supervision of its nuclear activities by the UN’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
But Washington unilaterally left the deal in 2018 and reinstated sanctions, after which Tehran began scaling down its commitments under the agreement.
‘Irresponsible actions’
In July, Iran also suspended cooperation with the IAEA following an aggression by Israel and the US, with Tehran pointing to the agency’s failure to condemn Israeli and US strikes on its nuclear facilities.
The unprecedented bombing campaign by Israel and the retaliation by Iran during the 12-day war derailed the latest negotiations between Tehran and Washington to reach a new nuclear agreement.
However, Iran reached a new cooperation agreement with the IAEA in Cairo as a goodwill gesture.
“Iran’s efforts to revive the exchanges (with the IAEA) that led to the agreement in Cairo were also sabotaged by the irresponsible actions of the three European countries,” the Iranian Foreign Ministry said.
The ministry was referring to the Europeans’ activation of the snapback mechanism.
‘Null and void’ sanctions
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also in a letter on Saturday to Antonio Guterres, the United Nations secretary general, and Vassily Nebenzia, the rotating president of the Security Council, said that the expiration of the 2015 deal renders the sanctions “null and void.”
He reaffirmed Tehran’s position that Resolution 2231 has “definitively expired and terminated” in accordance with its own provisions.
Araghchi also decried as “devoid of legal basis” attempts by the three European countries to revive the previously terminated UN sanctions resolutions.
“As detailed in the joint letter of the Foreign Ministers of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the People’s Republic of China, and the Russian Federation dated 28 August 2025 (A/79/1004-S/2025/546), the European parties’ attempt to invoke the so-called ‘notification’ is procedurally defective and substantively void,” he wrote.
“No measure taken in disregard of resolution 2231 can generate legal obligations for Member States. The Security Council’s voting record and the clear positions expressed by its members confirm that the so-called ‘notification’ has no legal validity. Accordingly, any claim of ‘reviving’ or ‘reinstating’ terminated resolutions is void ab initio, lacking legal foundation and incapable of producing a binding effect.”
Araghchi emphasized that the procedure pursued by the three European states constitutes a clear abuse of process, contrary to both the letter and spirit of resolution 2231 and the nuclear agreement.
In a Friday post on X, Araghchi also asserted that Iran is answerable only to “the rule of law, not coercion.”
Upon expiration, the official said, Iran would legally be removed from the Security Council’s agenda. The development will allow the Islamic Republic to increase its peaceful nuclear energy activities within the provisions of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
“As an NPT signatory, Iran will remain bound solely to its rights and obligations under the Treaty,” Araghchi likewise said.
“This includes no limits whatsoever on the scale of its nuclear program.”