After painstaking negotiations, Egypt brokered an agreement between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which is now known as the Cairo Agreement. This is a technical accord reached on September 9, 2025, in Cairo between Iran and the IAEA, which allows the IAEA to inspect Iranian nuclear facilities.

Here are the main provisions of the Cairo Agreement:

Resumption of Inspections: Iran agreed to resume cooperation with the IAEA, reopening the way for technical verification at its nuclear facilities and increased transparency measures.
Special Reporting: Iran is required to prepare a report detailing locations and conditions of nuclear material, including highly enriched uranium, especially after incidents affecting those sites.
Framework for Trust: The agreement lays the groundwork for rebuilding trust between Iran and the IAEA and is intended as a first step toward restarting broader nuclear negotiations.
Regional Diplomacy: Egypt played a central role as mediator, with its foreign minister leading negotiations that started in June amid heightened regional tensions
My initial reaction was that Iran is crazy to entertain such an agreement in light of evidence that the IAEA used its previous inspections to gather intelligence on Iranian scientists who were murdered by Israel during the 12-Day War. Upon further reflection, I think I understand why Iran is taking this step: Iran is trying to play by the international rules in order to avoid the snapback sanctions under the JCPOA. Despite the Western narrative that the Islamic Republic of Iran is a lawless, terrorist state, Iran is taking the high-road by taking a concrete action to show that it is not enriching uranium to build a nuclear bomb. Unfortunately, the West does not care… It is hellbent on destroying the Islamic Republic. I think Iran is taking this step so that its BRICS partners will be able to ignore the UN sanctions and continue to do business with Iran because of the deceit of the UK, France and Germany, who failed to uphold the JCPOA by lifting sanctions on Iran ten years ago.

Let's begin by reviewing the original JCPOA:

Overview of the JCPOA and Snapback Sanctions

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), signed in 2015 between Iran and the P5+1 (United States, United Kingdom, France, Russia, China, and Germany), is an agreement aimed at limiting Iran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. It was endorsed by UN Security Council Resolution 2231 (UNSCR 2231), which terminated six prior UN sanctions resolutions (1696 (2006), 1737 (2006), 1747 (2007), 1803 (2008), 1835 (2008), and 1929 (2010) but included a "snapback" mechanism to reimpose them if Iran engages in "significant non-performance" of its commitments. This mechanism, detailed in Article 36-37 of the JCPOA and operational paragraphs 10-19 of UNSCR 2231, is a veto-proof process designed to ensure compliance without requiring new Security Council action, which could be blocked by permanent members.