A protestor waves a flag of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) during a demonstration by Franco-Iranian associations, including the Committee to Support Human Rights in Iran (CSDHI) against the capital punishment in Iran, a day after the World Day Against the Death Penalty, in central Paris on October 11, 2025. MARTIN LELIEVRE / AFP
Iran said on Saturday, October 18, that it was no longer bound by restrictions on its nuclear program as a landmark 10-year deal between it and world powers expired, though Tehran reiterated its "commitment to diplomacy." The 2015 deal – signed in Vienna by Iran, China, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and the United States – saw the lifting of international sanctions against the Islamic Republic in exchange for restrictions on its nuclear program.
However, the pact had already been in tatters after Washington unilaterally withdrew during President Donald Trump's first term, with Iran later pulling back from its commitments. The reimposition last month of UN sanctions at the urging of three of the deal's European signatories rendered the accord effectively moot.
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Iran caught in nuclear standoff between Trump, Europe and Khamenei
