Conflicting reports by the US and Iran indicate that crucial issues over an Iran nuclear deal still remain to be agreed upon.
EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Mogherini and Iranian FM Zarif during the final statement in Lausanne. (State Department)
The White House Fact Sheet on the recent framework Iran nuclear deal indicates that sanctions would be lifted after, among other things, Iran finally came clean regarding its military nuclear program. Iran now says this is a lie and that all sanctions are dropped when a deal is made – not when Iran actually complies.
Deputy Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, one of Iran’s senior negotiators, asserted that the economic sanctions will all be terminated on the first day of the implementation of the deal. “All the six UN sanctions resolutions against Iran will also be lifted at once when the tentative agreement between Iran and the 5+1 is finalized,” he said, the Iran’s Mehr News reports.
Araghchi noted that the economic sanctions that will be lifted include banking sanctions, sanctions related to the transfer of fuel, oil, gas, oil sales, investments in oil industry, shipping services, insurance, transportation, unfreezing of Iranian overseas assets, and all other nuclear-related sanctions.
Araghchi lashed out at the Obama administration for what he said is a lie regarding the details of a tentative framework in a fact sheet it released following the culmination of negotiations with the Islamic Republic on April 2.
“The use of ‘suspension’ for the sanctions relief in the fact sheet is definitely wrong and we have expressed our objections to it; however, our criterion is not the fact sheet but the text of the final agreement,” he said.
Araghchi stressed that the nuclear statement in Lausanne clearly specifies that the sanctions would be terminated and the US will stop the implementation of all economic and financial sanctions at once.
Araghchi also said the greatest achievement of Lausanne’s statement was that now the world respects Iran’s right to nuclear program.
“Thanks to the negotiations, the world now respects our rights to nuclear energy and recognizes that our nuclear program is entirely legitimate,” he added.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and European Union Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini read the final statement of intensive nuclear negotiations in Lausanne on Thursday following nine days of hectic, intensive talks between Iran and the P5+1 powers. The statement set the framework for further negotiations and a final deal by the end of June.