EU: Tehran’s Nuclear Non-Compliance Insignificant

EghtesadOnline: The parties to the 2015 nuclear deal do not consider Iran's reduction of its commitments a "significant" non-compliance and there is no intention to trigger the dispute resolution mechanism foreseen in Article 36 of the agreement for now.

News ID: ۷۴۷۸۹۶

17 July 2019

The statement was made by Federica Mogherini, European Union foreign policy chief, to reporters after the meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels, Belgium, on Monday, European External Action Service reported.

"For the time being, none of the parties to the agreement have signaled their intention to invoke this article, which means that none of them is … with the data we had in particular from the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency], considering the non-compliance a 'significant' non-compliance," she said.

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on Iran's nuclear program was signed by the six world powers, but the United States pulled out last year and reimposed the lifted sanctions. Iran initiated a reciprocal plan after a year by gradually scaling back its commitments as per paragraph 36 of the deal, Financial Tribune reported.

Article 36 contains a dispute resolution mechanism for an occasion when a party believes that other signatories are not meeting their commitments.

If the issue remains unresolved after certain procedures and the complaining participant deems it to constitute significant non-performance, it can cease performing its commitments in whole or in part.

The remaining parties can similarly trigger the mechanism, if they agree that Iran's measures constitute significant non-compliance.

Tehran has repeatedly announced that its nuclear steps will be reversed as soon as its concerns, including the benefit of making oil exports and concluding banking transactions, are met.

"We have also noticed that all the steps that have been taken by Iran are technically reversible," Mogherini said.

Effectiveness of INSTEX

Europe has introduced a financial mechanism known as INSTEX (Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges) to counter the effects of US sanctions on Tehran.

The payment channel aims to facilitate trade with Iran without the use of dollar.

The first transactions are currently being processed, according to Mogherini, but have not satisfied Iran's needs yet.

She said member states were unanimous during the ministerial meeting about the need to make the system "faster and more operational to have legitimate trade with Iran".

"A number of member states have shown their willingness to become shareholders of this instrument and there is also the possibility for non-member states to join," she added.

Iran's core concern is to be able to sell its oil, the lifeblood of its economy. Yet, there is no guarantee that INSTEX could enable oil transactions.

"The issue of whether or not INSTEX will deal with oil is a discussion that is ongoing among the shareholders," Mogherini said.