Pressure on Iran as nuclear deal unravels

By Nathan Morley

The accord, which was sealed back in 2015, was meant to curb Iran’s nuclear programme.  For the leadership in Iran, the past few days have lurched from bad to worse.  It’s now known that since last summer, the Iranians have been gradually breaching strict rules set out in the nuclear accord.

On Wednesday, the foreign ministers of the UK, France and Germany — half of the deal's remaining signatories — announced that they would lodge a formal complaint that Iran is not meeting its commitments.

At the same time, the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson suggested that he is open to replacing the Iran nuclear deal with a new agreement orchestrated by US President Donald Trump.

If the original deal does unravel, Iran can expect sweeping international sanctions.

Protests in Iran

Meanwhile in Iran, citizens have used social media to call for fresh demonstrations a week after the shooting down of a passenger plane.

President Hassan Rouhani has already stated a special court should be formed to probe the downing of the Ukrainian passenger jet that was mistakenly targeted by Iran forces just after takeoff.

The strike killed all 176 people aboard. Police in Iran have arrested an undisclosed number of suspects for their role in the crash.

For the last 5-days, protesters including hundreds of students have held anti-government demonstrations, with some being met by a violent police crackdown.