JCPOA Joint Commission Rules Out US Bid to Trigger Snapback: Iran

Speaking to reporters in the Austrian capital on Tuesday, Seyyed Abbas Araqchi said the latest meeting of the JCPOA Joint Commission lasted for more than four hours and revolved around the US’ attempts at the UN Security Council to reinstate the sanctions on Iran by resorting to the snapback mechanism of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

All parties to the JCPOA –Iran, Russia, China, the UK, France and Germany– have reiterated that the US is not a participant in the nuclear deal and has no right to use the mechanisms embedded in the JCPOA or in the UNSC Resolution 2231, he underlined.

The JCPOA Joint Commission deems that the US government’s anti-Iranian attempts at the UN are illegal, considers as null and void the US’ bid to trigger the snapback mechanism, and believes that Washington’s measures will get nowhere, he added.

“All JCPOA members and the majority of the international community members are opposed to the US’ unilateral policies and its policy of weakening multilateralism, international organizations and multilateral approaches in the international relations. Everybody complains about the measures the US is taking to ruin the international institutions,” Araqchi stated.

He further criticized the inefficiency of the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges (INSTEX), a financial mechanism developed by the three European members of the JCPOA- saying while the channel was supposed to organize trade interaction between Iran and Europe in defiance of the US sanctions, it has fallen far below Iran’s expectations.

The European parties have come up with some ideas to improve the efficiency of the payment channel, Araqchi added, saying one initiative is to allow Russia and China to join the INSTEX and carry financial transactions.

The EU3 has also proposed the idea of increasing the number of INSTEX shareholders and finding new financial resources to fund the channel, the Iranian deputy foreign minister noted.

On his meeting with IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi in Vienna, Araqchi said the recent agreements made in Tehran between Iran and the UN nuclear watchdog were reviewed.

The joint statement that Iran and the IAEA released at the conclusion of Grossi’s recent visit to Tehran provides guidelines for resolution of the disputes and resumption of a normal relationship with the IAEA, he said.