JCPOA Snapback Mechanism More Beneficial to Iran: FM


TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Should the parties to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Actions (JCPOA) decide to withdraw from the nuclear deal one day, Iran will have more options with an easier way to go than the other side, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif explained.

In an address to a gathering of Iranian business people in Tehran on Tuesday, Foreign Minister Zarif said inclusion of the option for reversing commitments to the JCPOA –known as snapback plan- was a result of lack of trust in the US.

The snapback mechanism in the JCPOA suits Iran perfectly, the minister stressed, saying the country can immediately go back on the accord whenever it feels the deal is not fulfilling its interests.

Yet the other side is not going to have an easy job and will have to hold talks with thousands of banks and the UN Security Council, Zarif added.

Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) in July 2015 finalized the text of a lasting agreement on Tehran’s nuclear program.

Dubbed the JCPOA, the 159-page document has subjected Iran and the six other countries to comply with a series of commitments, resulting in the termination of sanctions on Iran in exchange for certain restrictions on Tehran’s nuclear program during a defined period of time.

The 15-memebr United Nations Security Council passed a resolution that endorsed the JCPOA.

According to the UNSC Resolution 2231, all previous UNSC sanctions imposed on Iran over its nuclear program were terminated when the JCPOA took effect in January 2016.