Extending a law which has already proven inefficient

EghtesadOnline: US lawmakers have voted for extending anti-Iran sanctions for another decade though the move stands in violation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

News ID: ۷۷۱۹۰۱

04 December 2016

Iran and the 5+1, based on an important article included in the JCPOA, have committed themselves to carrying out the document with uttermost goodwill in constructive atmosphere based on mutual respect. They have promised to refrain from any act which might contradict the spirit and objectives of the nuclear and could sabotage its successful implementation, according to IRNA.

Within the same framework, the 5+1 are to stop imposing new regulations and amendments which threaten Iran with introducing fresh sanctions and restrictions under the cover of the JCPOA. This is while in a particular section of the document, it has been stressed that nuclear agreement will lead to absolute removal of the United Nations Security Council sanctions as well as the whole bunch of all-out and national sanctions related to Iran’s activities in areas linked to trade, technology and supplying energy. The same section states that imposition of sanctions related to the nuclear issues will be stopped.

However, this never meant that just because negotiations focused on the nuclear issue, the removal of sanctions were limited to only those ones which fell on the same category. The overall objective of negotiations for Iran was to bar the US use of sanctions as a tool of pressure while Americans clearly wanted to maintain the structure of sanctions and continue to use them as an instrument.

Now, the extension of D’amato sanctions against Iran which bans investments over 20 million dollars in Iranian oil and gas industries will mean fresh restrictions for Iranian energy sector.

The extension of this law at a time when in the past six months the Obama administration has been careful to totally execute the nuclear deal by ordering removal of sanction is a clear violation of the JCPOA. If the US President Barack Obama goes on to veto the new sanctions, then he will be acting in conformity with the rules and if refuses to do so then his act will be in juxtaposition of the rule.

But there is this point remaining to consider that when the then US President Bill Clinton adopted the D'amato bill, no European country was ready to join him because none of the European countries were able to see the reason behind this much of US pressures against Iran.

At the present time, the situation is the same. The US cannot rely on implementing a law that bans investments in Iran by world countries because the resolutions adopted by both the Security Council and the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Board of Governors have already been nullified. At the same time, the issue of PMD (Possible Military Dimention) is now totally out of question so basically there is no reason for renewal of sanctions against Iran by the US administration.

Therefore, it is crucial for everyone to note that the D’amato sanctions rule will not be effective in 2017, just the same way it is now.

But, the important point is what we have to do now. We have to act accordingly to the decisions made by the US Congress. We should not act hastily, should not make radical moves because the Trump administration will probably follow a strategy of cornering Iran in conditions where Tehran will be forced to breach the JCPOA knowing that it will cost the country which violates the agreement dearly.

This is enough to persuade Iran to be vigilant enough with its future steps and act only in response of what the US does in action.