Iran’s Nuclear Chief: JCPOA to Take Effect in Next 2 Months
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A comprehensive nuclear deal between Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) will practically come into force in the next two months, Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi said.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Salehi said it will take 2 months or so for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) to be officially implemented after the adoption day.
On the adoption day, he explained, the EU and the US will formally announce an end to the anti-Iran sanctions, but the sanctions will be practically lifted once the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) would announce that Iran has honored its commitments.
Iran’s undertakings include the necessary changes in the number of centrifuge machines in the Natanz facility, as cited in the JCPOA, and other measures in the Fordow and Arak sites, Salehi noted.
Earlier on Sunday, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said the JCPOA will presumably be officially adopted on October 19.
Iran and the Group 5+1 (also known as the P5+1 or E3+3) on July 14 reached a conclusion on a 159-page nuclear agreement that would terminate all sanctions imposed on Tehran over its nuclear energy program after coming into force.
Afterwards, the 15-memebr United Nations Security Council passed a resolution that endorsed the JCPOA.
July 14 was indeed the day of finalization of drafting the text of the agreement.
The second stage, dubbed the adoption day, is when the parties officially announce that the accord has been struck.
Araqchi had announced earlier that following the adoption day, the European Union and the US congress will pass laws to terminate the unilateral sanctions imposed on Iran. But those laws will not come into force until the IAEA would verify Iran’s undertakings.
“There is time gap for carrying out the deal, and to settle that problem, the EU and the US will terminate the sanctions, but this will not take effect until Iran honors its commitments,” Araqchi had announced on July 16.
“Following those stages, which will take four to six more months, the implementation day will come. The whole nuclear-related economic and financial sanctions will be lifted at the very day of (implementation of) the deal,” he had announced.