Parliament speaker's advisor: Verification of US sanctions removal by Iran takes at least 3-6 months

An advisor to Iranian Parliament speaker says if Iran and the US reach an agreement on the removal of all sanctions through the ongoing Vienna talks, it would take Tehran at least 3-6 months to verify the US measure and make sure that sanctions have been really removed.

Mehdi Mohammadi made the remarks in an interview with the khamenei.ir website, whose text was published on Sunday, saying, “After the withdrawal from the [nuclear] agreement [with Tehran], the Americans inflicted significant damage on Iran, and it is estimated that the country has suffered about $200 billion in damage since May 2018 alone.”

The United States, under former president Donald Trump, left the multilateral 2015 nuclear deal -- officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – signed between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries in May 2018 and restored the economic sanctions that the accord had lifted in addition to imposing new non-nuclear ones.

Tehran returned the non-commitment of the US to the deal with remedial nuclear measures that it is entitled to take under the JCPOA’s Paragraph 36.

After a change of the US administration, new President Joe Biden claimed that Washington was ready to rejoin the deal.

The Islamic Republic has insisted that it would only stop its adherence to the JCPOA paragraph once the US lifted all the sanctions in one step and after Iran has verified that the sanctions relief has actually taken place.

The US so far failed to meet Iran’s condition.

Mohammadi said Iran has set a number of fundamental conditions to accept the US return to the JCPOA and its membership to the P4+1 group of countries, which consists of the remaining parties to the JCPOA after the US left the accord .

“The first condition [set by Iran] is that the removal of sanctions should be carried out in a way that it would help Iran take economic advantage that it expects from the JCPOA. We have taken no economic advantage of the JCPOA, but the opposite side has totally benefited from it and, for example, has restricted Iran's nuclear program to limits set by the JCPOA," he said.

The second condition is that all sanctions should be lifted before Tehran resumes compliance with its commitments [as per the deal],” Mohammadi added.

Iran will accept no differentiation among sanctions [imposed by the US] ... such as the JCPOA-related, non-JCPOA-related, imposed by Trump, [and] imposed by other than Trump.”

“Of course, the US should first lift all sanctions, so that, the economic effects of the sanctions removal would be clear for Iran and Iran should verify those economic effects. When this happens, Iran will be ready to return to its nuclear commitments as has been stipulated by the JCPOA,” Mohammadi pointed out.

The next condition set by Iran, which is “very important” is that the simple lifting of sanctions in legal terms is not enough for us, Mohammadi said, adding that the only thing that the Islamic Republic will accept in return for stopping or limiting its nuclear work is taking real economic advantage of the JCPOA.

“Iran’s fourth condition is that just as they verify our commitments, we must be also able to verify their commitments,” the official said.

He added that they should first fulfill their obligations and then Iran will be able to assure in a rational time period that the lifting of sanctions will result in actual economic benefits and consequences.

“They must first comply with their commitments. Then there must be a rational period of time during which we would be able to make sure that removal of sanctions has really led to economic benefit. The least necessary time for verification of the economic effects of sanctions removal is between three and six months. It takes at least three to six months for us to make sure that sanctions have been really removed, have practical impact and Iran’s foreign trade has been reinstated,” the parliament speaker’s advisor said.

In a post on his Instagram page on April 8, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said any US claim to having removed Iran’s sanctions must be verified by Tehran and this means that the Islamic Republic should be able to sell its oil under normal conditions and receive its money.

“Verification [of US sanctions removal] means [being capable of] selling oil in an official manner, with ease and under normal conditions, and its money be received by Iran,” the Leader added.

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