Returning to JCPOA commitments sole correct way for Europe

In a Sunday meeting with his French counterpart, Jean-Yves Le Drian, on the sidelines of the 56th Munich Security Conference, Zarif highlighted the unfulfilled commitments of Europe under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, and emphasized that the path taken by Europe would not help solve the problems.

The Iranian top diplomat said the only correct way would be for Europe to return to its commitments mentioned in the JCPOA.

“If Europe fulfills its commitments to the JCPOA, Iran will reverse its retaliatory measures regarding the deal,” Zarif said.

Europe set up a special trading mechanism called Instex to enable legitimate humanitarian trade with Iran after Washington’s unilateral withdrawal from the 2015 landmark nuclear deal in May 2018 and re-imposition of sanctions against Tehran.

However, despite repeated promises by the EU to make the mechanism operational, it has yet to complete any transactions.

Tehran remained fully compliant with the nuclear agreement, known as the JCPOA, for an entire year after the US withdrawal, waiting for the European signatories to the deal to fulfill their end of the bargain by offsetting the impacts of American bans on the Iranian economy.

As the European parties reneged on their commitments, the Islamic Republic moved in May 2019 to suspend its JCPOA commitments under Articles 26 and 36 of the deal covering Tehran’s legal rights.

Iran has taken five steps in scaling back its obligations under the JCPOA, among them abandoning operational limitations on its nuclear industry, including with regard to the capacity and level of uranium enrichment, the amount of enriched materials as well as research and development.

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