After almost two years of negotiations, on July 14, 2015, the E3/EU+3 (China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States) and Iran reached an agreement regarding Iran’s nuclear program. The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (“JCPOA”) lays out a framework for Iran to dismantle much of its nuclear program in exchange for lifting certain United Nations (“UN”), European Union (“EU”) and United States (“US”) sanctions against Iran. Below we provide highlights of the agreement and a timetable for its implementation:

- Financial and energy sanctions are lifted earlier: The agreement provides for financial and energy sector-related sanctions to be lifted before certain arms-related sanctions. The purpose of lifting these sanctions is to enable payment mechanisms for Iran to export petroleum-related products. A range of these sanctions can be lifted as early as December 15, when the IAEA is scheduled to verify that Iran has taken measures in accord with the JCPOA.

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