A year after the US pullout from the nuclear agreement, US-Iranian relations escalated bringing the crisis between the two countries to a crucial and complex stage. The nuclear file, which is at the core of the crisis, witnessed a mutual escalation during the first week of May 2019. On May 3, 2019, US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Ford announced in an official statement the end of the extension of the nuclear exemptions, which were among the terms of the nuclear agreement between Iran and the P5 + 1 countries.
Following a decision by the Iranian National Security Council, the Iranian President Hassan Rouhani announced on May 8 the reduction of some of Iran’s commitments prescribed under the nuclear agreement in response to the US escalation since its withdrawal from the nuclear agreement in May 2018. However, this agreement ended a year after the restoration of all non-nuclear sanctions. Within weeks of the US withdrawal from the agreement, there was unprecedented escalation which included designating the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization, ending the exemptions on oil exports, and imposing nuclear restrictions on the export of uranium and heavy water. Meanwhile, the other signatories have not fulfilled their pledges in order to maintain the agreement.
