U.S. blocks Iran from fusion megaproject.

Abstract

The Iran nuclear deal was meant to usher in a new era of science cooperation between the Islamic republic and other parties to the landmark agreement, which deters the country from pursuing nuclear weapons in exchange for sanctions relief. But nearly 2 years after implementation began, few projects have gotten underway. And Science has learned that the United States has frozen Iran out of a collaboration that the deal expressly brokered: ITER, the multibillion-dollar fusion experiment in France. Bringing Iran into ITER was expected to be straightforward; the long delay casts a pall on other scientific collaborations expected under the nuclear deal. An ITER council later this month is expected to take up the issue.