Iran Nuclear Crisis Chronology

Summary: In 2002, a group of exiles revealed that Iran had secretly been working on a program to enrich uranium, a process required to produce fuel for nuclear reactors and an atomic weapon. Over the next five years, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) campaigned with mixed success to enforce the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), to which Iran was a signatory, designed to prevent additional countries from developing nuclear weapons. Iran insisted it was developing a uranium enrichment program purely for peaceful purposes. At the same time, it said it had a right to build its nuclear capability just as any other nation.

The following is a consolidated chronology of the main events in the prolonged diplomatic crisis surrounding Iran's nuclear program, which includes development of enriched uranium that scientists have cautioned could eventually be used to build a nuclear weapon.

1967: Iran builds Tehran Nuclear Research Center at Tehran University that includes a five-megawatt nuclear research reactor supplied by the United States able to produce up to 600 grams of plutonium per year in spent fuel.

1968: The government of the Shah of Iran signs the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty that goes into effect on March 5, 1970, after ratification by the parliament. The treaty recognized Iran's "inalienable right to develop research, production, and use of nuclear energy for peaceful proposes without discrimination, and acquire equipment, materials, and scientific and technological information."

1974 et seq.: The Shah of Iran responds positively to American suggestions to increase Iran's electric generating capacity by launching a program to build as many as twenty-three nuclear power plants using equipment and technology purchased from the United States, effectively trading nuclear capacity for oil bought from Iran. In 1975, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology signed a contract with Iran to train Iranian nuclear engineers; India and Iran signed a nuclear cooperation treaty.

1978: United States and Iran sign a nuclear energy agreement governing the sale of equipment and material for Iran's nuclear energy program, including US assistance in searching for uranium deposits inside Iran.

1979-1981: Shiite fundamentalist cleric Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini proclaims himself the supreme religious leader of Iran; the Shah is forced to flee the country following the Islamic Revolution. Radical Islamist students take US embassy staff hostage for 444 days. US cuts ties with Iran, imposes arms embargo. The hostage rescue attempt fails. Hostages were freed minutes after the inauguration of President Ronald Reagan.

1986: A secret deal for the US to sell arms to Iran and to funnel proceeds to fund Nicaragua Contras was revealed.

1995: President Bill Clinton accused Iran of trying to acquire nuclear weapons and ordered an end to trade with Iran, including US companies' investment in Iranian oil and gas. Iran denied the charge.

January 2002: President George W. Bush says Iran is part of an "axis of evil"—governments that sponsor terrorism and seek weapons of mass destruction. (Other members are Iraq, North Korea, and Cuba.)

August-September 2002: Exiles assert Iran has secretly built a large uranium enrichment plant at Natanz, Iran, and a heavy water plant at Arak. In September, Iran began work on a nuclear reactor.

December 2002: Satellite photos show active nuclear sites in Iran contrary to terms of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which Iran signed. The US says Iran is guilty of "across-the-board pursuit of weapons of mass destruction." Iran agrees to inspection by the UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

February 2003: Iran's President Mohammad Khatami says the country has discovered uranium deposits and plans to develop nuclear fuel. Chief of IAEA, Mohammed ElBaradei, visits Iran to inspect Tehran's nuclear plants

June-July 2003: ElBaradei says Iran is hiding the full extent of nuclear work and urges Iran to agree to more extensive inspections. In July, UN inspectors announced finding traces of enriched uranium, suitable for nuclear weapons, resulting in pressure on Iran to agree to surprise inspections.

September 2003: More enriched uranium found, increasing calls for Iran to agree to tougher UN inspections.

October 2003: Iran agrees to stop producing enriched uranium and to sign additional Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) protocol calling for more extensive inspections, including surprise spot checks. (The protocol was signed in December in Vienna.)

December 2003: Iran signed the Additional Protocol to the NPT to allow unannounced inspections of nuclear facilities.

February 2004: Pakistani nuclear bomb scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan reportedly sold weapons technology to Iran. IAEA says Iran experimented with polonium-210, which can trigger a chain reaction in a nuclear bomb. Iran agrees to suspend enrichment but does not do so.

June 2004: IAEA criticizes Iran for trying to import magnets for use in centrifuges and for failure to offer "full, timely, pro-active" cooperation with IAEA inspections. In response, Iran announced it would resume producing and testing centrifuges used to enrich uranium, effectively going back on its promise of the previous October.

July 2004: Iran resumes uranium enrichment.

August 2004: Iran tests medium-range Shahab-3 missile capable of reaching Israel—possibly with a nuclear weapon if Iran had one.

September 2004: IAEA ordered Iran to stop preparing to enrich uranium on a large scale. The US called on the UN Security Council to impose sanctions on Iran.

November 2004: Iran agrees to suspend uranium enrichment pending further talks with Britain, France, and Germany negotiating as a team. IAEA seals several nuclear facilities.

January 2005: IAEA inspectors allowed into the Parchin plant near Tehran.

February 2005: Iran's President Mohammed Khatami vows that no Iranian government will give up nuclear technology programs.

April-May 2005: Iran announces it plans to resume uranium enrichment at the Isfahan plant. EU negotiators warn that such resumption would end negotiations linked to trade. Iran agreed to wait until the end of July.

June 2005: Hard-line Islamist Mahmoud Ahmadinejad elected president; takes office in August. Iran resumes enrichment a few days after he takes office and names another hardliner, Ali Larijani, to lead talks with three European nations. President George Bush refused to rule out military action in August to force Iran to drop its nuclear program.

August 2005: Iran states it resumed work at the Isfahan uranium conversion plant (confirmed September 2, 2005, by IAEA Chief Mohamed ElBaradei). Iran rejects an IAEA resolution, asking it to halt the nuclear program and again asserting its rights under the NPT.

September 2005: At the UN General Assembly, Ahmadinejad says Iran has an "inalienable right" to produce nuclear fuel. International Institute for Strategic Studies says Iran is several years from nuclear weapons capability. IAEA says it will later refer Iran to the Security Council for action on grounds Iran has not complied with NPT.

November 2005: Russia proposes to enrich uranium for Iran on Russian soil. Talks on this plan failed in early 2006. Iran says it has allowed IAEA inspectors into its Parchin military complex.

January 2006: Iran says it has developed the means of separating uranium from its ore. Iran opens talks with Russia on its offer to defuse the growing crisis by enriching uranium for Iran to use in power plants. Iran removes IAEA seals at its Natanz plant three days later and resumes research. In response, the European Union called off talks with Iran and suggested the issue be referred to the Security Council. Iran threatened to end voluntary cooperation with the IAEA the next day if the issue was taken before the Security Council. In an NBC news interview, Bush says military action is an option if Iran "continues to stonewall the international community" about its nuclear program.

February 2006: Iran says it has resumed full-scale uranium enrichment. The IAEA's board of governors meets to consider a proposal to send the issue to the Security Council, which could impose sanctions on Iran. The Council's five permanent members (US, Britain, France, Russia, China), plus Germany, support taking Iran before the Council.

March 2006: The fifteen-member Security Council asks Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment program within thirty days, but it does not specify consequences if it fails.

March 29, 2006: The Security Council gives Iran one month to suspend enrichment. Four days later, Iran began testing missiles that could block oil tankers from passing through the Straits of Hormuz, causing oil prices to jump $2 a barrel in one day.

April 2006: War of words between the US and Iran. American press reports said the US is planning an attack on Iranian military facilities. Ahmadinejad says Iran will "cut off the hand" of any attacker. Iran refuses to rule out the use of oil as a diplomatic weapon in case of UN sanctions against Iran. Ahmadinejad insists that the IAEA, not the Security Council, deals with a report of continuing Iranian enrichment.

May 2006: President Ahmadinejad sends President Bush a long letter on US foreign policy in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Israel; it is the first direct communication between the US and Iran for twenty-seven years. The letter does not offer any concrete proposal to resolve the nuclear issue. Europeans offered Iran civilian technology in exchange for ceasing its enrichment activities; two days later, President Ahmadinejad said his government would reject such an offer.

June 2006: A representative from the European Union presents a new set of proposals that have been agreed upon by the US, Britain, France, Russia, China, and France, even as the IAEA says Iran is continuing to enrich uranium. On June 12, 2006, Iran's top negotiator said the latest European offer "contains some positive points." Russia's President Vladimir Putin says a meeting with President Ahmadinejad left "a very positive impression" and that the Iranian president was assessing the most recent offer. On June 16, 2006, Ahmadinejad issued a statement saying the offer of incentives to discontinue enriching uranium was "a step forward" and that his government was considering the offer.

August 2006: On August 22, Iran responded to the June 12 proposals with a general statement expressing willingness to discuss the issue. Four days later, Iran announced it had inaugurated a "heavy water plant," one step toward enriching plutonium and making a nuclear weapon. On August 31, the Security Council deadline passed without Iran ending its uranium enrichment program.

October 2006: A month of rapid-fire developments in the crisis, focusing on efforts by the US to impose sanctions: President Bush signed a law requiring economic sanctions on nations and companies helping Iran's nuclear program. The deputy head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization proposes an international consortium to enrich uranium inside Iran to monitor the program; France rejects the idea the next day. President Ahmadinejad ordered nuclear facilities, including the enrichment facility at Natanz, to be open to tourists. US, Britain, France, Russia, China, and Germany meet in London to discuss new actions to force Iran to stop enriching uranium; Russia and China refuse to proceed, preferring low-level sanctions first. Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, says Iran has the right to move with nuclear development "without any retreat." Iran threatens to end talks with European powers and cooperation with the IAEA if sanctions are imposed. Iran launches new group of centrifuges used to enrich uranium for fuel. UK, France, and Germany circulate resolutions for sanctions against Iran. Russia downplays the likelihood that Iran will acquire weapons-grade uranium.

November 2006: Ahmadinejad predicts Iran will have "completed its fuel cycle" within three or four months and will bring thousands of centrifuges online.

December 2006: Security Council imposes sanctions (December 23) on Iran's trade in sensitive nuclear materials and technology. Iran vows to speed up its uranium enrichment project.

January 2007: The head of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency says Iran could build an atomic weapon by 2009.

February-March 2007: IAEA says Iran failed to meet a deadline to suspend uranium enrichment. Iran's enrichment quality is 4.2 percent U-235, or one pass away from becoming weapons-grade material, meaning Iran can produce weapons-grade material within weeks. On March 24, the Security Council approved new sanctions, including banning Iranian exports of conventional arms and freezing financial assets abroad of twenty-eight individuals, including commanders of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, and institutions, including Iranian-owned Bank Sepah. Iran responds by threatening to limit its cooperation with the IAEA.

April 2007: Ahmadinejad says Iran can produce nuclear fuel on an industrial scale, judged to be a key milestone in creating an atomic weapon, and is seeking contractors to build additional centrifuges to enrich uranium. Ahmadinejad warned Iran to stop cooperating with the IAEA if the West does not ease pressure on Iran. IAEA reports that Iran's capacity has doubled in one month, but it is insufficient to produce a nuclear bomb within the near term.

May 2007: IAEA says its inspectors found Iran using about 1,300 centrifuges producing fuel suitable for reactors, a significant increase over the previous IAEA inspection. IAEA's ElBaradei said, "From now on, it is simply a question of perfecting that knowledge." Experts remain divided over whether Iran can produce a bomb that could be mounted on its missiles.

July 2007: IAEA director Mohamed ElBaradei announces that Iran has scaled back its uranium enrichment program and agreed to let UN inspectors into the so-called Arak reactor, a heavy water plant previously barred to them, as well as to answer questions about earlier experiments possibly linked to developing nuclear weapons. IAEA agrees to appoint substitutes for inspectors earlier banned by Iran.

September 2007: American efforts to persuade the Security Council to impose fresh economic sanctions against Iran are thwarted by Russia and China, which insist on giving Iran more time to meet demands for information about its nuclear program. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad tells the General Assembly that the issue of Iran's enrichment of uranium is "closed" and vows to defy any Security Council move for more sanctions.

October 2007: Journalist Seymour Hersh reports (New Yorker, October 8, 2007) that a faction in the Bush administration linked to Vice President Richard Cheney was pushing for limited air strikes against targets in Iran, focusing on Revolutionary Guard facilities, to retaliate for alleged Iranian assistance to anti-American insurgents in neighboring Iraq. On October 21, Ali Larijani, Iran's chief negotiator on the nuclear showdown and viewed as a voice of compromise, resigned. Many interpreted his departure as a victory for the hard-line President Ahmadinejad and bringing confrontation with the West closer. Larijani replaced Saeed Jalili, deputy foreign minister for European and American affairs. On October 30, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov visited Tehran to avoid a confrontation. He says Russia still opposes the imposition of economic sanctions to force Iran to give up its nuclear enrichment program.

November 2007: The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports (November 11) that Saudi Arabia had proposed forming a consortium of countries in the Middle East to work on nuclear projects—minus uranium enrichment—for their common good and as a possible way to defuse the nuclear crisis with Iran. The IAEA released a report (November 15) criticizing Iran for making incomplete disclosures about its nuclear program and missing a deadline set by an agreement with the IAEA. The IAEA report said Iran had 3,000 centrifuges (used to enrich uranium) at work, ten times as many just one year earlier—suggesting Iran could produce enough enriched uranium for a weapon within twelve to eighteen months. The report said there was no evidence Iran was enriching uranium to a level suitable for a bomb.

December 2007: The US released (December 3) a new National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) that concluded Iran had suspended its nuclear weapons program in 2003. President Bush insisted the report would not change American policy and said the report demonstrated that coordinated international sanctions had been effective. Spokespeople for the British and French governments agreed that Iran must cooperate with the IAEA in disclosing details of its nuclear enrichment program or face further economic sanctions.

January 2008: President Bush appears to cast doubt on whether he accepts the NIE issued a month earlier, declaring in an interview: "I believe they (Iran) want a weapon, and I believe they are trying to gain the know-how as to how to make a weapon under the guise of a civilian nuclear program."

May 2008: The IAEA sent the Security Council a report warning that Iran may have withheld information about whether it previously tried to develop nuclear weapons and how much progress it had made on such efforts. The report raised the prospect that Iran might be close to making a nuclear weapon once it masters the enrichment of uranium required for such a bomb.

September 2008: A report by the IAEA drafted for a meeting of the European Union in September 2008 said Iran increased the number of centrifuges used to process uranium to nearly 4,000 from 3,000 over a few months. A separate analysis by the Institute for Science and International Security in Washington said Iran had improved the efficiency of its centrifuges by reducing their downtime to as little as 15 percent, further increasing the rate at which enriched uranium could be produced. The institute estimated that Iran could produce enough enriched uranium to build a nuclear weapon within six to twenty-four months.

January 2009: Newly inaugurated President Barack Obama delivers a New Year's greeting to the Iranian people and sends at least one letter to Supreme Leader Ali Khatami, signaling a change in America's stance towards Iran nearly three decades after the takeover of the US Embassy in Tehran.

February 2009: IAEA says its inspections revealed that Iran had enriched more than a ton of uranium, about a third more than earlier thought and enough to build a weapon after additional enrichment. Also in February, Iran launched a satellite into orbit using an Iranian-built missile. Observers said such a missile could also carry munitions at least as far as Israel and perhaps as far as Europe.

April 2009: The Obama administration announced it would, for the first time, participate in talks between Iran and five other nations (Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and China). At the same time, President Ahmadinejad announced his government would welcome talks with the Obama administration if the policy change were "honest."

May 2009: Iran launches missile tests demonstrating its ability to deliver a warhead at least 1,200 miles, well within the range of Israel and possibly within the range of Europe. This test appeared relevant to the ongoing dispute between the United States and Russia over a proposed anti-missile missile defense system, which the Bush administration proposed to install in Poland and the Czech Republic, over Russian objections and nominally to defend against Iranian missiles.

June 2009: Iran holds presidential elections in which the incumbent, Ahmadinejad, is declared the winner despite protests by large numbers of demonstrators in Tehran and allegations of fraud by his opponents. The fallout from the election and the demonstrations appeared for a while to suggest a split among the ranks of conservatives in the Islamist government headed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and doubts over the advisability of Ahmadinejad's long-standing hard-line towards the West, especially on the subject of enriching uranium.

September 2009: The US will accept Iran's invitation to open direct talks for the first time since 1979 (except for one meeting during the George W. Bush administration) without preconditions. The talks also include Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and China, which had long been negotiating with Iran over its nuclear program. The American announcement was in response to an invitation by Iran titled "Cooperation, Peace and Justice," which mentioned political, social, and economic subjects, Middle East peace, and global nuclear disarmament—but not specifically Iran's nuclear program.

October 2009: Iran holds talks with the five permanent members of the Security Council (US, UK, France, China, Russia), plus Germany (known as the P5+1), and agrees in principle to export most of its enriched uranium for processing. The outcome of the meeting on October 1, 2009, gave rise to short-lived hopes that a breakthrough had been achieved in defusing the Iranian proliferation crisis. In Iran, the announcement created tumult, with the result that on October 2, 2009, Iran's negotiator told the chief UN nuclear inspector that it was rejecting the deal.

November 2009: Negative reactions to Iran's rejection of a tentative agreement to ship its enriched uranium abroad (probably to Russia) appear to result in closer agreement among Security Council members, notably Russia and China, which had been cool to Western demands for sanctions against Tehran. New suspicions arise that Iran may be hiding other secret enrichment plants. At the end of November, Tehran announced plans to build up to ten new enrichment plants, an apparent snubbing of its nose at threats by the West to impose sanctions. On November 27, the Director General of the United Nations nuclear watchdog agency, the IAEA, said Iran "stonewalled" investigators looking for evidence that Iran had tried to design a nuclear weapon and said the investigation had "effectively reached a dead end." The next day, the IAEA demanded Iran freeze its nuclear operations immediately at a newly disclosed plant and expressed "serious concern" over the potential military aspects of Iran's nuclear program.

December 2009: On December 1, 2009, President Ahmadinejad declared that Iran would not comply with an IAEA demand that it stop work on a formerly secret nuclear fuel enrichment plant, and instead said Iran would build ten more such plants, as well as studying what would be needed to further enrich its stockpile of nuclear fuel for use in a medical reactor. On December 13, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki seemed to voice a more conciliatory position, declaring that Iran was willing to exchange most of its uranium for processed nuclear fuel from abroad as proposed by the IAEA.

January 2010: A January 1, 2010, deadline established by President Obama for progress in negotiating with Tehran to curb its nuclear program passes without an agreement. A January 6 report by the New York Times says Iran has hidden much of its nuclear facilities in a network of tunnels designed both to defend the facilities from bombing and to maintain secrecy. On January 17, the six powers negotiating with Iran to curb its nuclear program (US, Britain, France, Russia, China, and Germany) declared that Iran's response to proposals justified consideration of further measures, notably sanctions.

February 2010: February 2: President Ahmadinejad says Iran is ready to comply with a United Nations request to send uranium abroad for further enrichment in a reactor to produce medical isotopes. February 6: Iranian Foreign Minister Mottaki says, "We are approaching a final agreement" if the West agrees to let Iran determine the quantity of enriched uranium to be provided. February 10: Iran announces it has begun enriching uranium to a higher level of purity (20 percent, up from about 4.5 percent) for use in a medical reactor. The United States calls for more economic sanctions.

March 2010: March 3: The US circulates a draft listing expanded economic sanctions, focusing on banking, shipping, and insurance. The proposed additional sanctions, if passed, would be the fourth set enacted since 2006. March 20: President Obama delivers a taped message to the Iranian people for the festival of Nowruz (the Iranian New Year)—his second in two years—offering to engage in diplomatic relations.

April 2010: April 8: While signing a new US-Russia nuclear arms containment agreement, Russian President Dimitri Medvedev says Russia "cannot present a blind eye" to Iran's prospective acquisition of nuclear arms capability, signaling a willingness to go along with American proposals for additional economic sanctions against Iran. April 12: China, in a perceived important shift, promises to join negotiations on new sanctions against Iran in retaliation for its ongoing nuclear program.

May 2010: May 16: Brazil and Turkey announce they have brokered an agreement under which Iran would ship about half its low-enriched uranium fuel to Turkey in exchange for receiving 265 pounds of uranium enriched to 20 percent for use in a reactor used to make isotopes to treat cancer. The agreement is similar to a deal negotiated in November 2009 with Russia. May 31: International Atomic Energy Agency Inspectors report that Iran has enough nuclear fuel to produce two nuclear weapons with additional enrichment.

June 2010: June 9: Security Council (12-3) adopts a new set of sanctions against Iran. Turkey and Brazil voted against it, and Lebanon abstained. The sanctions took months to negotiate and were aimed primarily at Iran's Revolutionary Guards. They require countries to inspect ships or planes en route to or from Iran for banned cargo and bar Iranian investment in nuclear technology projects.

January 2012: The EU bans all member countries from importing Iranian oil beginning in July.

April 2012: A new round of talks between Iran and the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany (P5+1) begins.

March 2013: The United States begins secret bilateral talks with Iranian officials in Oman.

June 2013: Former nuclear negotiator Hassan Rouhani, seen as more moderate than Ahmadinejad, is elected president of Iran.

September 2013: Barack Obama and Hassan Rouhani have a telephone conversation, the first between US and Iranian leaders since 1979.

November 2013: The Joint Plan of Action (JPA), an interim nuclear agreement, is signed in Geneva, Switzerland, between Iran and the P5+1. It freezes portions of Iran's nuclear program in exchange for reducing some sanctions.

January 2014: The IAEA issues a report saying Iran is living up to its portion of the interim agreement.

April 2015: Iran, the P5+1, and the European Union agreed upon an Iranian nuclear deal framework.

July 2015: A final Iranian nuclear deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), is agreed upon by Iran and the P5+1+EU. Under the agreement, Iran is prevented for fifteen years from enriching uranium beyond the levels needed for nuclear power generation, and Iran must submit to a comprehensive inspection regime. In exchange, UN and EU sanctions against Iran will be suspended or ended, and around $100 billion in Iranian assets abroad will be unfrozen.

March 2016: Iran conducts missile tests, though they are determined not to violate the JCPOA. Further tests followed in January 2017.

October 2017: US President Donald Trump, who ran for office in part on opposing the Iran nuclear deal, accuses Iran of violating the JCPOA and ends certification that the agreement was in the best interest of the US. He leaves a decision on the matter to Congress, which preserves the deal by taking no action.

May 2018: Trump announces the US will withdraw from the JCPOA. Other parties to the agreement subsequently discuss ways to continue implementing the deal.

October 2018: By unanimous vote, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) states that the US reimposition of Iran sanctions was unfounded and calls for certain sanctions, including food, medicine, and humanitarian goods, to be lifted.

January 2019: A satellite launch by Iran fails. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo condemns the attempted launch, incorrectly characterizing it as violating a UN Security Council resolution. The US intelligence community released its Worldwide Threat Assessment, finding that Iran is not actively pursuing nuclear weapons and that the JCPOA successfully weakened Iran's ability to create a nuclear weapon.

March 2019: IAEA report finds Iran has followed through on its commitments under the JCPOA, and remaining parties renew their dedication to the agreement.

May 2019: The Iranian government announces it will partially withdraw from JCPOA. European leaders released a joint statement calling for Iran to continue to cooperate under the terms of the agreement and for non-party states to avoid impeding the deal.

July 2019–January 2020: Iran rolls back its JCPOA compliance in several steps, including exceeding limits on levels of enriched uranium, centrifuge development, and heavy water stock. However, it claims it will continue to cooperate with the IAEA.

March 2020: IAEA report finds Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium had almost tripled since November 2019, totaling much more than 300 kilograms.

November 2020: Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, Iran's top nuclear scientist, is assassinated.

January 2021: The country resumes enriching uranium to 20 percent purity, far exceeding the 2015 Nuclear Deal guidelines.

February 2022: President Biden restores a sanctions waiver just weeks after nuclear talks in Vienna, allowing other countries to cooperate with Iran on nuclear projects.

November 2022: The IAEA director reports Iran produced uranium at 60 percent purity.

February 2023: Uranium particles enriched to 83.7 percent purity are found in Iran's Fordow nuclear facility. To make a nuclear bomb, 90 percent purity is required. A top US Defense Department official warned the country was only days from being able to make one nuclear bomb, although later in 2023 observers argued that the country had no concrete plans to construct a nuclear weapon at that time. Iranian officials also maintain their stance that the country does not want to build a bomb.

October 2023: The outbreak of war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, an Iran-backed Palestinian military and political organization, raises tensions throughout the Middle East, particularly between Iran and Israel, a key ally of the US and many other countries involved in ongoing negotations regarding Iran's nuclear program.

April 2024: Israel launches a strike on the Iranian embassy facility in Damascus, Syria, killing several Iranian military officials; Iran responds by firing hundreds of drones and missiles at Israel, nearly all of which are shot down. This confrontation, which was the first time the two countries' militaries had openly and directly engaged each other, sparked fears of a wider war between Israel and Iran. In the aftermath of this confrontation some Iranian officials signaled their willingness to rethink the country's nuclear program and consider developing a nuclear weapon; Israel, while it had not publicly confirmed nor denied that it possessed nuclear weapons, was widely believed to possess its own nuclear arsenal and had already engaged in years of alleged sabotage operations of Iran's nuclear program.

May 2024: Amid rising concerns over ongoing Iranian uranium enrichment, Rafael Mariano Grossi, the head of the IAEA, visits Iran.

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