	Recent Events

On May 8, 2018, President Donald Trump announced that the United States was ending its participation in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The JCPOA is an agreement signed on July 14, 2015, by the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain (all permanent members of the U.N. Security Council), Germany (P5+1), and Iran, to require Iran to limit its nuclear program and, in exchange, require the United States and others to ease economic sanctions affecting Iran's access to some of its hard currency held abroad (see text box, below). The President's decision sets in motion a restoring of U.S. unilateral economic sanctions that will affect U.S. businesses and include secondary sanctions that target commerce originating in other countries that engage in trade with and investment in Iran. To explain how the United States will reestablish the sanctions regime, the Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued a new set of Frequently Asked Questions shortly after the President's announcement. No later than November 5, 2018, those individuals and entities removed from the OFAC's Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list to effectuate the JCPOA will be redesignated, "as appropriate." In the Countering Iran's Destabilizing Activities Act of 2017 ( P.L. 2371(a)); and
(2) Iran has ceased the pursuit, acquisition, and development of, and verifiably dismantled its, nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons and ballistic missiles and ballistic missile launch technology. Legislation and Executive Orders

The first two tables presented in this report identify the legislative bases for sanctions imposed on Iran, and the nature of the authority to waive or lift those restrictions. Table 1 presents legislation, and Table 2 shows executive orders that are specific to Iran and its objectionable activities in the areas of terrorism, human rights, and weapons proliferation. Table 3 presents legislation, and Table 4 shows executive orders that have been waived, revoked, or altered to provide sanctions relief, based on Executive Order 13716 of January 16, 2016, and Departments of the Treasury and State Guidance Relating to the Lifting of Certain U.S. Sanctions Pursuant to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on Implementation Day , also issued on January 16. It is the authorities summarized in these latter two tables that will be the focus of the reestablishing of economic sanctions to implement President Trump's May 8 announcement. Trade Embargo : The U.S. domestic trade embargo imposed on Iran under the national emergency declared in E.O. Pursuant to these authorities and unless exempt from regulation or authorized under the relevant regulations, the exportation or reexportation by a U.S. person or from the United States to Iran or the Government of Iran, as well as the reexportation by non-U.S. persons of items that contain 10 percent or more U.S.-controlled content with knowledge or reason to know that the reexportation is intended specifically to Iran or the Government of Iran, generally requires a license. 13224 in connection with Iran's support for international terrorism) (section 104(c)(2)(E) of CISADA);
4. E. Non-Proliferation Sanctions
On Transition Day, the United States will seek such legislative action as may be appropriate to terminate, or modify to effectuate the termination of, the nuclear proliferation-related statutory sanctions set forth in paragraph 4.9 of Annex II of the JCPOA, including sanctions under the Iran, North Korea and Syria Nonproliferation Act on the acquisition of nuclear-related commodities and services for nuclear activities contemplated in the JCPOA, to be consistent with the U.S. approach to other non-nuclear weapon states under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. A number of different sanctions laws and restrictions are keyed to this designation, including restrictions on foreign assistance (22 U.S.C.
On May 8, 2018, President Donald Trump signed National Security Presidential Memorandum 11, "ceasing U.S. participation in the JCPOA [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action] and taking additional action to counter Iran's malign influence and deny Iran all paths to a nuclear weapon." The action sets in motion a reestablishment of U.S. unilateral economic sanctions that will affect U.S. businesses and include secondary sanctions that target the commerce originating in other countries that engage in trade with and investment in Iran.
Prior to this juncture, the United States had led the international community in imposing economic sanctions on Iran in an effort to change the government of that country's support of acts of international terrorism, poor human rights record, weapons and missile development and acquisition, role in regional instability, and development of a nuclear program. The United States' abrogation of its participation in the JCPOA, at least in the near-term, sets the United States apart from its allies and partners in what has been for more than a decade a unified, multilateral approach to Iran's malign activities.
This report identifies the basis in U.S. law for sanctions imposed on Iran, and the nature of the authority to waive or lift those restrictions. It comprises four tables that present legislation and executive orders that are specific to Iran and its objectionable activities in the areas of terrorism, human rights, and weapons proliferation. It will be updated if and when new legislation is enacted, or, in the case of executive orders, if and when the President takes additional steps to change U.S. policy toward Iran.
On July 14, 2015, the United States, China, France, Germany, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, European Union, and Iran agreed to a Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action to "ensure that Iran's nuclear programme will be exclusively peaceful.... " In turn, the negotiating parties and United Nations would "produce the comprehensive lifting of all U.N. Security Council sanctions as well as multilateral and national sanctions related to Iran's nuclear programme, including steps on access in areas of trade, technology, finance, and energy."
On January 16, 2016, the International Atomic Energy Agency verified that Iran had implemented the measures enumerated in the JCPOA to disable and end its nuclear-related capabilities. Secretary of State Kerry confirmed the arrival of Implementation Day (defined in Annex V of the JCPOA). President Obama, the State Department, and the Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control initiated steps for the United States to meet its obligations under the JCPOA (Annexes II and V)—revoking a number of executive orders, delisting individuals and entities designated as Specially Designated Nationals, issuing general licenses to authorize the resumption of some trade, and exercising waivers for non-U.S. persons as allowable by various laws. President Trump's May 8 announcement indicates that the United States will, over the next three to six months, reconstruct the U.S. sanctions regime.
Other CRS reports address the U.S.-Iran relationship, including a comprehensive discussion of the practical application of economic sanctions: CRS Report RS20871, Iran Sanctions, by Kenneth Katzman. See also CRS Report R43333, Iran Nuclear Agreement, by Kenneth Katzman and Paul K. Kerr; CRS Report R43492, Achievements of and Outlook for Sanctions on Iran, by Kenneth Katzman; CRS Report RL32048, Iran: Politics, Human Rights, and U.S. Policy, by Kenneth Katzman; and CRS Report R40094, Iran's Nuclear Program: Tehran's Compliance with International Obligations, by Paul K. Kerr.