On November 27, assassins attacked the car of and killed the top official of Iran’s now-suspended nuclear weapons program, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh| The Soufan Center
After a more than six-month hiatus in diplomatic talks to revive the 2015 multilateral Iran nuclear agreement (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, JCPOA) that the Trump administration exited in 2018, U.S. and Iranian officials have reportedly been conducting indirect talks to de-escalate burgeoning tensions.| The Soufan Center
As of mid-August, international diplomats and proliferation experts have begun to consider Iran a “threshold nuclear state,” based on the significant advances its nuclear program has made since President Trump withdrew the United States from the multilateral Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in 2018| The Soufan Center
Last year began with broad optimism for the course of U.S. relations with Iran as multilateral talks to restore full U.S. and Iranian adherence to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), appeared to make progress| The Soufan Center
Since the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, Iran’s advancing nuclear program has been somewhat eclipsed as a strategic challenge by Tehran’s backing of a broad “Axis of Resistance” attacking Israel, U.S. forces in the region, and commercial shipping in the Red Sea.| The Soufan Center