“We will be instituting
the highest level of economic sanction. Any nation that helps Iran in its quest
for nuclear weapons could also be strongly sanctioned by the United States.
America will not be held hostage to nuclear blackmail.”
Issued on: May
8, 2018
MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF STATE
THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY
THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE
THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
THE SECRETARY OF ENERGY
THE SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY
THE ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT AND CHIEF OF
STAFF
THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE
THE UNITED STATES PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE
TO THE UNITED NATIONS
THE DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE
THE DIRECTOR OF THE CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE
AGENCY
THE ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT FOR NATIONAL
SECURITY AFFAIRS
THE COUNSEL TO THE PRESIDENT
THE ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT FOR ECONOMIC
POLICY
THE CHAIRMAN OF THE JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF
THE DIRECTOR OF THE FEDERAL BUREAU OF
INVESTIGATION
THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY
THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE
THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
THE SECRETARY OF ENERGY
THE SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY
THE ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT AND CHIEF OF
STAFF
THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE
THE UNITED STATES PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE
TO THE UNITED NATIONS
THE DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE
THE DIRECTOR OF THE CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE
AGENCY
THE ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT FOR NATIONAL
SECURITY AFFAIRS
THE COUNSEL TO THE PRESIDENT
THE ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT FOR ECONOMIC
POLICY
THE CHAIRMAN OF THE JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF
THE DIRECTOR OF THE FEDERAL BUREAU OF
INVESTIGATION
SUBJECT: Ceasing United States Participation in the Joint
Comprehensive Plan of Action and Taking Additional Action to Counter Iran’s
Malign Influence and Deny Iran All Paths to a Nuclear Weapon
As President, my highest priority is to ensure the safety
and security of the United States and the American people. Since its
inception in 1979 as a revolutionary theocracy, the Islamic Republic of Iran
has declared its hostility to the United States and its allies and
partners. Iran remains the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism,
and provides assistance to Hezbollah, Hamas, the Taliban, al-Qa’ida, and other
terrorist networks. Iran also continues to fuel sectarian violence in
Iraq, and support vicious civil wars in Yemen and Syria. It commits
grievous human rights abuses, and arbitrarily detains foreigners, including
United States citizens, on spurious charges without due process of law.
There is no doubt that Iran previously attempted to bolster
its revolutionary aims through the pursuit of nuclear weapons and that Iran’s
uranium enrichment program continues to give it the capability to reconstitute
its weapons-grade uranium program if it so chooses. As President, I have
approved an integrated strategy for Iran that includes the strategic objective
of denying Iran all paths to a nuclear weapon.
The preceding administration attempted to meet the threat of
Iran’s pursuit of nuclear capabilities through United States participation in
the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on Iran’s nuclear program.
The JCPOA lifted nuclear-related sanctions on Iran and provided it with other
significant benefits in exchange for its temporary commitments to constrain its
uranium enrichment program and to not conduct work related to nuclear fuel
reprocessing, the two critical pathways to acquiring weapons-grade nuclear
material. Some believed the JCPOA would moderate Iran’s behavior.
Since the JCPOA’s inception, however, Iran has only escalated its destabilizing
activities in the surrounding region. Iranian or Iran-backed forces have
gone on the march in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen, and continue to control parts of
Lebanon and Gaza. Meanwhile, Iran has publicly declared it would deny the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) access to military sites in direct
conflict with the Additional Protocol to its Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement
with the IAEA. In 2016, Iran also twice violated the JCPOA’s heavy water
stockpile limits. This behavior is unacceptable, especially for a regime
known to have pursued nuclear weapons in violation of its obligations under the
Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
Iran’s behavior threatens the national interest of the
United States. On October 13, 2017, consistent with certification
procedures stipulated in the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act,
I determined that I was unable to certify that the suspension of sanctions
related to Iran pursuant to the JCPOA was appropriate and proportionate to the
specific and verifiable measures taken by Iran with respect to terminating its
illicit nuclear program. On January 12, 2018, I outlined two possible
paths forward — the JCPOA’s disastrous flaws would be fixed by May 12, 2018,
or, failing that, the United States would cease participation in the
agreement. I made clear that this was a last chance, and that absent an
understanding to fix the JCPOA, the United States would not continue to
implement it.
That understanding has not materialized, and I am today
making good on my pledge to end the participation of the United States in the
JCPOA. I do not believe that continuing to provide JCPOA-related
sanctions relief to Iran is in the national interest of the United States, and
I will not affirm what I know to be false. Further, I have determined
that it is in the national interest of the United States to re-impose sanctions
lifted or waived in connection with the JCPOA as expeditiously as possible.
Section 1. Policy.
It is the policy of the United States that Iran be denied a nuclear weapon and
intercontinental ballistic missiles; that Iran’s network and campaign of
regional aggression be neutralized; to disrupt, degrade, or deny the Islamic
Revolutionary Guards Corps and its surrogates access to the resources that
sustain their destabilizing activities; and to counter Iran’s aggressive
development of missiles and other asymmetric and conventional weapons
capabilities. The United States will continue to pursue these aims and
the objectives contained in the Iran strategy that I announced on October 13,
2017, adjusting the ways and means to achieve them as required.
Sec. 2. Ending
United States Participation in the JCPOA. The Secretary of State
shall, in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of
Energy, take all appropriate steps to cease the participation of the United
States in the JCPOA.
Sec. 3. Restoring
United States Sanctions. The Secretary of State and the Secretary of
the Treasury shall immediately begin taking steps to re-impose all United
States sanctions lifted or waived in connection with the JCPOA, including those
under the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012, the Iran
Sanctions Act of 1996, the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act of
2012, and the Iran Freedom and Counter-proliferation Act of 2012. These
steps shall be accomplished as expeditiously as possible, and in no case later
than 180 days from the date of this memorandum. The Secretary of State and
the Secretary of the Treasury shall coordinate, as appropriate, on steps needed
to achieve this aim. They shall, for example, coordinate with respect to
preparing any recommended executive actions, including appropriate documents to
re-impose sanctions lifted by Executive Order 13716 of January 16, 2016;
preparing to re-list persons removed, in connection with the JCPOA, from any
relevant sanctions lists, as appropriate; revising relevant sanctions
regulations; issuing limited waivers during the wind-down period, as
appropriate; and preparing guidance necessary to educate United States and
non-United States business communities on the scope of prohibited and
sanctionable activity and the need to unwind any such dealings with Iranian
persons. Those steps should be accomplished in a manner that, to the
extent reasonably practicable, shifts the financial burden of unwinding any
transaction or course of dealing primarily onto Iran or the Iranian
counterparty.
Sec. 4. Preparing
for Regional Contingencies. The Secretary of Defense and heads of any
other relevant agencies shall prepare to meet, swiftly and decisively, all
possible modes of Iranian aggression against the United States, our allies, and
our partners. The Department of Defense shall ensure that the United States
develops and retains the means to stop Iran from developing or acquiring a
nuclear weapon and related delivery systems.
Sec. 5. Monitoring
Iran’s Nuclear Conduct and Consultation with Allies and Partners.
Agencies shall take appropriate steps to enable the United States to continue
to monitor Iran’s nuclear conduct. I am open to consultations with allies
and partners on future international agreements to counter the full range of
Iran’s threats, including the nuclear weapon and intercontinental ballistic
missile threats, and the heads of agencies shall advise me, as appropriate,
regarding opportunities for such consultations.
Sec. 6. General
Provisions. (a) Nothing in this memorandum shall be construed
to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) the authority granted by law to an executive
department or agency, or the head thereof; or
(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of
Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative
proposals.
(b) This memorandum shall be
implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of
appropriations.
(c) This memorandum is not intended to, and does not,
create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or
in equity by any party against the United States, its departments,
agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
DONALD J. TRUMP
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