An Iran Nuclear Deal Without the United States? Chinese, European, and Russian Interests and Options After the US Withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action

Abstract

Following the withdrawal of the United States from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the nuclear agreement with Iran, the remaining state parties in the agreement will need to coordinate their policies to keep the deal alive. This chapter sheds light on the positions and interests of China, Russia, and the European actors involved. Together, they constitute a new ‘P4+1’ format that sits on the Joint Commission together with Iran. While China and Russia may be in a more advantageous economic position to continue business with Iran if US financial sanctions will be reimposed, all signatories of the JCPOA share the same principled position on questions of nuclear non-proliferation. It will be argued that the robustness of the global non-proliferation regime is at stake. Process-tracing the involvement of Europe, China, and Russia at different stages of the nuclear negotiations with Iran, as well as their diverging political and commercial motivations, this chapter will conclude that it is a normative commitment to multilateral diplomacy that allows for a Russian, Chinese, and European convergence of interests in the face of US resistance.