Committee: DISEC 

Agenda: Discussion on the JCPOA agreement in light of the assassination of Qasem Solemani 

Freeze Date: 8th January, 2020 

Additional Directors: Aadya Narula, Bhrigu Uppal, Shambhavi Sharma 

Committee email: disecsmun24@gmail.com 

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"The fact is this was a horrible, one-sided deal that should have never, ever been made. It didn't bring calm, it didn't bring peace, and it never will."

~Donald Trump   

  

The international forum watches in absolute shock and terror as on 3rd January, around 1 a.m, U.S. drone strikes near the Baghdad International airport resulted in the death of lieutenant Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and the second most powerful man of Iran, General Qasem Solemani. 

Ordered by US President Trump, these strikes were an immediate result of the unrest caused due to the withdrawal of the United States from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), or more commonly known as the Iran Nuclear Deal. 

A result of 20 months of arduous negotiations, the Iran Nuclear Deal is a pivotal accord entered into by Iran and the P5+1 i.e. United States, France, United Kingdom, China, Russia and Germany in 2015. This Deal is responsible for regulating the nuclear program in Iran and ensuring Uranium enrichment is only carried out for non-nuclear purposes. 

The deal burgeoned for nearly 2 years as Iran scaled back its uranium enrichment and nuclear weapon program and were liberated from international sanctions in return, allowing the nation's economy and export trade to grow. Moreover, the United Nations consistently confirmed Iran’s compliance with the Nuclear Deal. However, as all good things must come to an end, by 2017 the agreement, too, found itself in jeopardy. Soon after President Trump assumed the position of President in the US, he abruptly pulled out of the JCPOA agreement and imposed heavy sanctions on Iran. Since then, the issue has escalated with Iran-US relations rapidly deteriorating. 

However, the assassination of Solemani was a major, dangerous and unexpected fomentation that has heavily compromised any leeway US had for working out a renegotiated Nuclear Deal. Yet, the most serious Repercussions of the attack was Iran’s reduced commitment to abide by the JCPOA. With several legislations for the same passed on 5th January, 2020 all signals point to the fact that Iran will be scaling up its Nuclear program. 

Delegates, if we allow the issue to drag on further, we may see a retaliation from Iran’s front that could usher us into a full-scale catastrophic nuclear war. 

It's now up to the delegates, to come together and rework the terms of JCPOA agreement- or propose an entirely new agreement that settles the issue peacefully and diplomatically, once and for all.