Violation of Iran Nuclear Deal Shows US and Europe 'Never Sincere' About Agreements - Scholar
12:08 GMT 04.07.2023 (Updated: 16:59 GMT 31.07.2023)
© AFP 2023 / BEHROUZ MEHRI
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Under the auspices of the JCPOA deal, Iran agreed to limit its pursuit of nuclear technologies in exchange for the lifting of the severe economic sanctions previously imposed on the country.
France, Germany and Britain may intend to violate their obligations under the auspices of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with Iran by not removing previously-imposed restrictions on ballistic missile research, development and production.
The restrictions were set to expire this October as per the agreement, one media agency reported last week citing diplomatic sources.
Dr. Seyed Mohammad Marandi, an Iranian-American political observer and member of the Iranian delegation for the 2015 nuclear deal, told Sputnik that neither the United States nor Europe implemented the terms of the nuclear deal.
While Iran "very swiftly carried out all of its obligations," with Russia and China also being "keen on implementing the deal," the US and the European countries were less eager to follow their example, Marandi remarked.
"The Americans and the Europeans have never been sincere about obligations and about agreements and deals. And the JCPOA is one such example. If we consider the reports to be correct, this is not unexpected. This is simply a confirmation of previous policies," he said.
According to Marandi, this approach effectively encourages Iran and other countries to look for partners other than the Western countries and helps foment mistrust towards the West.
2 June 2023, 14:50 GMT
He observed that, when it comes to anti-Iranian sanctions, Western powers have already "sanctioned everything that is of significance," even going as far as "effectively sanctioning Iran from importing medicines."
"They pretend that medicine, for example, is not a part of the sanctions regime, but they've blocked the only bank in Europe, in Germany, that was able to carry out transactions for medicine," Marandi explained. "They've blocked it from doing so over the past few months. So their intention is to kill as many Iranians as possible, to create misery for as many people as possible."
At the same time, Marandi noted, Western powers have essentially lost “their leverage over Iran” because, with all the sanctions they’ve already imposed on the country, they simply got nothing left to threaten Tehran with.
"If they continue implementing this policy, then the Iranians will choose permanent partners in the Global South, in Asia and the West will permanently lose markets in Iran, and especially at a time when the West is rapidly on the decline and rivals in the Global south, like China, Russia, Brazil, Iran, India, among others, are on the rise," he added. "It is it becomes increasingly difficult for Western countries to implement sanctions on countries like Iran."
Marandi also stressed the importance of Iran becoming a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, as this move affords Tehran an opportunity to "create greater cooperation" and "build relations" with other nations "without the West disrupting or attempting to disrupt these relationships."
"These organizations help independent countries to cooperate with one another and therefore, decreasing the ability of Western countries to cause harm to nations in the Global South," Marandi said.
The JCPOA was signed in 2015 between Iran and a group of countries known as P5+1 i.e. five permanent members of the UN Security Council (Russia, China, France, the United Kingdom and the United States) plus the European Union.
Under the auspices of this deal, Iran agreed to limit its pursuit of nuclear technologies in exchange for the lifting of the severe economic sanctions previously imposed on the country.
In 2018, however, then-US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the deal that was brokered during the presidency of his predecessor Barack Obama, with Trump branding the JCPOA as a "horrible one-sided deal that should never, ever have been made."
