Why in News:

• Iran is expected to announce plans to scale back compliance with a landmark nuclear deal on the anniversary of the United States decision to withdraw from the international accord.

Details:

• The US unilaterally withdrew on 2018, from the 2015 multilateral deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) under which Iran agreed to curb its nuclear programme in exchange for the lifting of biting sanctions.
• Iran will convey details of the “decision to reduce its commitments” to ambassadors of the five countries still party to the agreement – Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia.
• The US also blacklisted Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard Corps as “terrorists”, and announced it was deploying a naval strike group to the Middle East because of indications of a “credible threat from Iranian regime forces”.
• Iran dismissed the move as “psychological warfare”

Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)

• The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) known commonly as the Iran deal, is an international agreement on the nuclear program of Iran reached in Vienna on 14 July 2015 between Iran, the P5+1 (the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council—China, France, Russia, United Kingdom, United States—plus Germany),and the European Union.