Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, after meeting with his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, said on May 8 that Moscow and Tehran had agreed to work with all parties to the 2015 Comprehensive Comprehensive Action Plan to preserve the agreement limiting the Iranian nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of sanctions.
“We will first convince our European partners that they must fulfill their promise. And you know: they volunteered to create a mechanism that in banking transactions will not depend on the American system, ”Lavrov stressed.
However, he noted that the mechanism established by European countries for settlements with Iran - INSTEX - showed less efficiency than planned.
“Unfortunately, while some of our European colleagues are trying, in talking about the situation around Iran, they are developing ideas that have nothing to do with the Joint Comprehensive Action Plan and resemble an attempt to divert attention from the inability of our European partners to implement IFHR,” said the Russian Foreign Minister.
Earlier, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that the Islamic Republic partially ceases to fulfill its obligations under the nuclear deal - the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Action Plan. This document limited the development of the Iranian nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of sanctions.
“We stop fulfilling the conditions on two points of the FIDD. They relate to a stop for 60 days of sales of our enriched uranium and heavy water to other countries. Articles 26 and 36 of the agreement give us the right to do this, ”Ruhani TASS quotes.
According to Rouhani, Tehran has notified its decision of the other participants of the FIDD: Russia, Great Britain, China, Germany and France.
Another member of the UHTFD - the United States - a year ago came out of the deal. The corresponding order was then signed by President Donald Trump. In November 2018, the United States imposed an embargo on the sale of Iranian oil, and in April this year announced that it would cancel the exemptions from sanctions for China, India, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Turkey, Italy and Greece that had been in force in November.
It was the “irresponsible behavior” of the United States that led, as Lavrov stressed, to the “unacceptable situation” around the Iranian nuclear program. As Zarif noted during a meeting with the Russian minister, it was after the expansion of American sanctions against Iran on May 4 that it turned out to be “almost impossible” to implement ADHDs in the previous volume. The head of Iranian diplomacy, like his Russian counterpart, called on the European parties to the nuclear agreement to take more action.
“Russia and China fulfilled their obligations. ... Other participants could not, in particular, European. Now there is a short time for the rest of the FIDA participants, in particular, European countries, so that those commitments that their ministers assumed to fulfill these commitments ... And if these commitments are fulfilled, then we guarantee the further life of the FIDA "- said Zarif.
In turn, the press secretary of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Dmitry Peskov, also linked the situation around Iran’s nuclear program with Washington’s policy on Tehran.
“You know that President Putin has repeatedly spoken about his adherence to the ADF, about the importance and no alternative at the moment. Putin also repeatedly spoke about the consequences of ill-considered steps towards Iran. This refers to the decision that was made by Washington. We see that these consequences are beginning to occur, ”the TASS President’s press secretary quotes.
According to the representative of the President of Russia, it is still premature to talk about the possibility of imposing sanctions against Tehran in connection with the country's latest decision on the UFME.
Answer to Washington
It is with the decision of the United States to abandon the nuclear deal and return to the policy of sanctions Iran and now binds its actions. Paragraphs 26 and 36 of the Joint Comprehensive Action Plan consider the reintroduction of sanctions against Tehran as a reason for it to fully or partially refuse to fulfill its obligations under the transaction.
Tehran noted that the EU countries have not yet been able to fulfill promises regarding economic cooperation with Tehran in the context of US restrictive measures. The year of negotiations, which began after Washington’s withdrawal from the agreement, ended in nothing. Now, Hassan Rouhani is demanding specific steps from the participants of the FIPA to keep the transaction.
If no agreement on this matter is reached within the next 60 days, then, according to Rouhani, Iran can begin to enrich uranium without restrictions. The Islamic Republic may also refuse to modernize a nuclear reactor in the city of Arak. If the issue of a nuclear deal by Tehran will be brought up for discussion by the UN Security Council, Iran promises to give a “hard answer”, reports Fars News.
On May 7, in an interview with RIA Novosti, Zarif said that “it is possible to revise the adopted restrictions under the FACU” if the EU is unable to help Iran fulfill its obligations under the agreement due to US sanctions.
- Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif
- globallookpress.com
- © Ahmad Halabisaz / imago stock & people
The world has ambiguously reacted to the decision of the Iranian side. So, in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China, as RIA Novosti reports, they stated that they regret in connection with the exacerbation of the situation around Iran and oppose unilateral American sanctions. Diplomats noted that Tehran is fully fulfilling its obligations under the SVPD.
In turn, the Minister of the Armed Forces of France Florence Parley said in an interview with BFM television channel that the EU would not want Iran to withdraw from the agreement. She stressed that Iran is now fulfilling all its obligations under the FACU, but if it refuses to comply with them, the issue of imposing sanctions against it will be raised.
The official representative of the Cabinet of Ministers of Germany, Steffen Seibert, said that Germany regrets the decision of the Iranian leadership and will discuss it with partners.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking at a ceremony in honor of the Day of the fallen soldiers and victims of the terrorist attacks, said that the Jewish state will not allow Iran to "get nuclear weapons."
The head of the international committee of the Russian Federation Council, Konstantin Kosachev, noted in his Facebook that Iran’s actions “are not yet a rejection of the deal, but rather a diplomatic demarche”.
“Iran is acting absolutely logically and in its own interests. The commitments made are not fulfilled in relation to it, the United States declared withdrawal from the deal and artificially aggravated the situation so that there would be another outcast country because of which the Americans could again increase arms costs, ”commented RT on Iran’s decision to refuse First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Defense Committee, Alexander Sherin, from fulfilling some points of the FASD.
Waited a long time
According to the Joint Comprehensive Action Plan signed in 2015, Iran has pledged for 15 years "not to build additional heavy-water rectors or to accumulate heavy water."
“All excess volumes of heavy water will be exported to the international market,” the document noted.
Also had to go for export and excess quantities of enriched uranium. They were supposed to be sold at the market price "delivered to a foreign buyer in exchange for natural uranium, which will be delivered to Iran, or will be diluted to the natural level," the agreement emphasized.
Both of these measures are necessary in order to prevent the accumulation in Iran of components necessary for the creation of nuclear weapons, including weapons-grade plutonium. For the same purpose, the nuclear reactor in Arak was to be modernized in order not to "produce weapons-grade plutonium."
However, on May 3, the US State Department announced that “activities to transfer enriched uranium from Iran in exchange for uranium ore” and the expansion of the Bushehr nuclear power plant may be subject to US sanctions.
As Nikolai Bobkin, senior research fellow at the Center for Military-Political Studies of the Institute of the USA and Canada, Russian Academy of Sciences, said in an interview with RT, this is not the only example that the United States ignores the provisions of the nuclear agreement, which they have already refused to participate in.
- Bushehr nuclear power plant
- © REUTERS / Mehr News Agency / Majid Asgaripour
“The United States does not use the dispute resolution mechanism prescribed in the FIDD,” the expert notes. - If one party believes that the other does not comply with the agreement, then you need to make decisions together. The United States is acting unilaterally. ”
According to experts, the decision voiced by Iranian President Rouhani was expected.
“Such a reaction from Iran was expected due to US pressure,” said Karine Gevorgyan, Iranian editor of Politics, in a conversation with RT. “They put Iran in a position where it has to respond firmly.”
According to Nikolai Bobkin, the Iranians could not not respond to the fact that a year had passed after the US withdrawal from the treaty.
According to the expert, “the most important thing is that Iran does not fully withdraw from the nuclear agreement. He suspends participation in a number of provisions of the treaty. ”
However, Bobkin notes that if American sanctions are not further compensated, Tehran will eventually withdraw from the agreement, which imposes restrictions on it, but does not bring any benefits.
Technically, Iran is able to resume production of enriched uranium in a short time. According to the Iranian agency Tasnim, with reference to the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Ali Akbar Salehi, the Islamic Republic is able to begin work on enriching uranium up to 20% within 4 days.
“Of course, there is an opportunity to maintain the agreement on the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Action Plan,” said Karine Gevorgyan.
In her opinion, the reserves of diplomacy have not yet been exhausted. As Dmitry Peskov noted, Russia will continue consultations with European partners in order to increase the “continued viability” of the FAN. According to RIA Novosti, on May 8, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov has already discussed the situation around Iran’s nuclear program with Philip Burton, Director General for Consular and Security Affairs of the British Foreign Ministry.
“It is possible that after Moscow, Zarif will fly to negotiations with other parties to the agreement,” Gevorkyan said.
Against the backdrop of confrontation
The statements from Tehran to suspend the implementation of the 2015 nuclear agreement coincided with yet another escalation of relations between Washington and Tehran. Earlier, the United States added the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to the list of terrorist organizations, and Iran - American troops.
On May 5, Advisor to the President of the United States, John Bolton, said that the Americans are sending an aircraft carrier group to the Iranian shores "in response to a number of alarming signs and warnings leading to escalation." Also, as reported by the American media with reference to the Central Command of the US Armed Forces, four strategic bomber B-52 went to the region in support of the aircraft carrier group. They will be located at the El-Udeid airbase in Qatar. In mid-April, it was reported that the United States had for the first time transferred the fifth-generation F-35 fighter-bombers to the neighboring United Arab Emirates.
According to Voice of America *, citing the official representative of the Central Command, William Urban, the Americans see "clear signs that Iranian troops and their various puppet formations are preparing for possible attacks against the US military in the region." In turn, CNN, citing sources, notes: Iran allegedly throws ballistic missiles by sea to strike at the United States and its allies in Iraq or Syria.
Against this background, US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, after meeting with Sergey Lavrov in Finland, canceled the planned flight to Germany and instead went to Iraq, where he held talks with the country's leadership. As Pompeo himself noted, his visit was justified by the “increased activity of Iran.”
- Mike Pompeo in Iraq
- © Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / Pool via REUTERS
As Nikolai Bobkin notes, to a large extent, what looks like a sharp increase in American military pressure on Iran is actually the results of the planned rotation of the American armed forces in the region, albeit somewhat accelerated.
“This group has always been there,” Bobkin emphasizes. “The US simply uses belligerent rhetoric to intimidate Iran.”
In addition, the expert notes, in conditions when only Israel and Saudi Arabia can support a possible American military operation against the Islamic Republic, Washington is unlikely to decide on aggression.
“In order for the standoff between Iran and the United States to enter the hot phase, it is necessary to use large ground contingents, which the Americans cannot provide,” Karine Gevorgyan believes. “And their regional ally, Saudi Arabia, which is sharply opposed to Iran, does not have such capabilities.”
* "Voice of America" - the media, recognized by a foreign agent by the decision of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation of 05.12.2017.