Weapons, money and ships: How is this Iran deal different from others?

Weapons, money and ships: How is this Iran deal different from others? 2 hours ago Share Save Add as preferred on Google Ben Chu Policy and analysis correspondent, BBC Verify BBC President Donald Trump has formally signed a deal with Iran to end the conflict that began on 28 February when the US and Israel launched air strikes against Tehran and across the country. The terms of the 14-point Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the US and Iran have been criticised over what is included and what is left out. There have also been questions about how the agreement - which lays the groundwork for talks on Iran's nuclear weapons programme - will also affect economic sanctions and access to the Strait of Hormuz. Comparisons have inevitably been made between this deal and the 2015 Obama-era nuclear accord known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) which Trump scrapped in his first term. To make sense of the current deal, BBC Verify has looked through key details of the documents to compare it with the situation during three distinct periods: 1. When the JCPOA was in force between 2016 and 2018 2. Before the war began on 28 February 2026 3. Now the MoU has been signed Weapons Reuters The whole point of the JCPOA - which included the UK, France, the EU, China and Russia - was to impose specific limitations on Iran's nuclear programme. That highly technical document restricted Iran's stockpile of nuclear material to 300kg and said it could not enrich its uranium above 3.67% for 15 years. This level of enrichment is not high enough to be used in nuclear warheads but can be used in reactors to generate electricity. The JCPOA also allowed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) access to Iran's nuclear programme to ensure it was complying with the agreement. The IAEA said Iran had been complying until Trump withdrew the US from the JCPOA in 2018, calling it "decaying and rotten". Following the collapse of that deal Iran stepped up its nuclear programme. At the start of the war on 28 February 2026, Iran possessed approximately 440kg of uranium enriched to 60%, according to US officials. The material can be fairly quickly enriched to the 90% threshold needed for weapons-grade uranium. More than 50 Iranian military bases damaged in US strikes since start of war, satellite images show Iran attacks damage 20 US military sites since start of war, satellite images show While the new MoU text, as read out by the White House to the BBC and other media organisations, states that Iran "reaffirms that it shall not procure or develop nuclear weapons" there is little detail about the issue in the document. There is similar language in the JCPOA, which stated "Iran reaffirms that under no circumstances will Iran ever seek, develop or acquire any nuclear weapons". The new MoU also says the two parties "agreed to discuss the issue of enrichment" and to "resolve the disposition of stockpiled enriched material pursuant to a mechanism that will be mutually