Page 9 - MEOG Week 08 2022

MEOG POLICY & SECURITY MEOG

Draft JCPOA text does not include

oil sanctions in phase one

IRAN A US-Iranian draft agreement taking shape to including unfreezing about $7bn in Iranian
revive the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of funds frozen by US sanctions in South Korean
Action (JCPOA) between Iran and major pow- banks, as well as the release of Western prisoners
ers reportedly lays out phases of mutual steps held in Iran, something which US lead negotia-
that would bring both Tehran and Washington tor at the talks, Robert Malley, has suggested is a
back into full compliance with the accord, but, requirement for a deal.
notably, does not include waivers on oil sanc- Only once that initial wave of measures has
tions in the first phase. been taken and confirmed would the main phase
France – which along with the US, Britain, of sanctions-lifting begin, Reuters reported. That
Germany, the European Union, Russia and would culminate in what many diplomats call
China are still negotiating details of the draft Re-Implementation Day – a nod to the original
accord – on February 16 said Iran must make its deal’s Implementation Day.
mind up within days as to whether it will accept The duration of these phases, the news
the revised text that would enable the deal signa- agency reported the diplomats as saying, has not
tories to relaunch the JCPOA. yet been agreed, and the text includes an X for
Without a functioning deal in place, the the number of days between the milestone days
major powers, working with the UN, cannot such as Re-Implementation Day. Various offi-
ensure that Iran’s nuclear development pro- cials have estimated the time from an agreement
gramme will remain verifiably purely civilian until Re-Implementation Day at between one
in nature. In return for re-establishing its coop- and three months.
eration with the JCPOA, Iran should see major As in the original deal, the new agreement is
sanctions levied against its economy, including expected to see the US granting waivers to sanc-
its oil export industry, removed. tions on Iran’s oil sector rather than lifting them
Iran has always insisted that its nuclear outright. The waivers would be renewed every
objectives are entirely peaceful and that it sim- few months.
ply wants to master nuclear technology for civil
uses, particularly atomic energy. Ayatollah Ali Finishing line
Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, reiterated that On February 22, Russian envoy Mikhail Ulyanov
principle on February 17. “We will sooner or said via Twitter that a potential deal is nearing
later need peaceful nuclear energy. If we do not finalisation. “Apparently the negotiations on res-
pursue it ... our independence will be harmed,” toration of #JCPOA are about to cross the finish
Khamenei said in a televised speech, supporting line,” he said.
Tehran’s negotiating team in the ongoing JCPOA The same day, a senior Iranian official in Teh-
talks in Vienna. ran told Reuters: “Iran has always and repeatedly
Western powers, however, remain anxious expressed its readiness to exchange prisoners.
that no other state has enriched uranium to such Months ago we were ready to do it but the Amer-
a high level as the Iranians have achieved without icans ruined the deal,”, without elaborating.
going on to develop nuclear weapons. “Now I believe some of them will be released,
The draft text of the reshaped JCPOA is more maybe five or six of them. But those talks about
than 20 pages long. According to Reuters, which prisoners are not linked to the nuclear agree-
cited three diplomats familiar with the nuclear ment, rather associated with it. This is a human-
deal talks, it stipulates a sequence of steps to be itarian measure by Iran.”
implemented once the text has been approved by These comments follow quotes provided by
deal signatories, starting with a phase including Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdol-
Iran suspending uranium enrichment above 5% lahian to Reuters on February 19 that the Islamic
purity. Republic was prepared for an immediate pris-
The text is said to allude to measures oner exchange with the US.™

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