Domestic Factors that caused the United States to withdraw from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action

Abstract

Introduction. The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) was created on July 14, 2015 during the Barack Obama and Hassan Rohaní´s administrations. This plan would serve to negotiate the Iranian nuclear program. The aim of this bibliographic review was to analyze the causes that motivated United States to withdraw from the JCPOA. Methods. A bibliographic review was carried out through an analysis of several documents, scientific articles, news, and theses about the JCPOA. Discussion. The findings included the main economic, political, and social factors causing the withdrawal of the United States (U.S.) from the JCPOA. Among the economic factors, the imposition of economic sanctions and the growth of the US arms industry stood out. The social factors considered the position of political parties and interest groups, while the political factors included the unilateralism and the tense relations between the U.S. and Iran. Conclusion. The Trump administration executed a foreign policy that was governed by his political interests and radical nationalist radical ideology under the motto Make America Great Again (MAGA). The social, economic, and political factors prompted the U.S. to withdraw from the JCPOA. These factors were determined by the assumptions of neoclassical realism.