Spotlight: West begins process to end sanctions against Iran, expected to be lifted this year

Western countries have taken pragmatic steps to start the process of lifting their sanctions against Iran while Iran has responded positively and voiced the hope that some of those sanctions can be lifted this year.

The European Union (EU) on Sunday adopted the legislative framework for lifting all of its nuclear-related economic and financial sanctions against Iran, according to a joint statement issued by EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

Both sides also announced the start of the implementation of the nuclear deal reached between Iran and the six world powers on July 14 in the Austrian capital of Vienna, according to the statement.

Iran will start implementing its obligations pertaining to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and the UN nuclear watchdog will prepare the means to monitor Iran's measures, the statement read.

Earlier on Sunday, U.S. President Barack Obama ordered his administration to take steps to lift sanctions on Iran by implementing the Iranian nuclear deal reached in July.

"I hereby direct you to take all necessary steps to give effect to the U.S. commitments with respect to sanctions" on Iran, Obama said in a memorandum to U.S. secretaries of state, energy, commerce and the treasury.

The steps will take effect upon confirmation by the secretary of state that Iran has met its commitments under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Obama said in the memorandum issued by the White House.

Also on Sunday, Iran notified Yukiya Amano, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), that it will provisionally apply the Additional Protocol to its Safeguards Agreement when the nuclear deal comes into effect, the IAEA announced in a statement.

ADOPTION DAY

Those announcements came on Oct. 18, the so-called "Adoption Day" of the JCPOA, 90 days after the UN Security Council endorsed the Iranian deal.

The lifting of sanctions will take effect on Implementation Day, simultaneously with the (IAEA)-verified implementation of agreed nuclear measures by Iran, the statement said.

Therefore, sanctions on Iran will not be lifted immediately on "Adoption Day," as the United States has said that no relief from the sanctions will take place until the IAEA verifies that Iran has fully complied with the terms of the agreement.

To meet the JCPOA agreement, Iran would improve the transparency of its nuclear plan, downsize its capacity for uranium enrichment and change the structure of its heavy water reactor in exchange for international and Western sanctions relief.

In addition, under the JCPOA, all sanctions imposed on Iran will be lifted if the Islamic Republic proves it abides by the deal over the next 10 years step-by-step.

IRAN'S RESPONSES

Iran has responded positively and voiced the hope that some of those sanctions can be lifted this year.

Iranian nuclear negotiator Abbas Araqchi said Monday he expects sanctions to be lifted by the end of the year on the condition Iran fully implements its nuclear-related commitments made in a landmark nuclear deal adopted on Sunday.

Araqchi acknowledged after meeting here with his counterparts from P5+1, namely the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China plus Germany, that the large task of dismantling centrifuges, a key point of the deal, had not yet begun.

He told reporters the green-light to begin the process would first be required from the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization (AEOI), something he expected would happen soon.

The exact time for implementing the measures by Iran relating to the JCPOA has not been decided so far, and it will be determined by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, AEOI head Ali-Akbar Salehi said on Sunday.

However, the United States has said it expected Iran would take longer than two months for it to meet its side of the agreement, and for the IAEA to verify its compliance.

Similarly, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said he expected EU sanctions against Tehran to remain in place until at least January.

Since 2006, the UN Security Council has adopted a number of resolutions requiring Iran to stop enriching uranium with nuclear proliferation purposes. These resolutions have been progressively accompanied by restrictive measures to persuade Iran to comply.

In addition to implementing UN sanctions, during the past decade the EU has imposed a wide range of autonomous economic and financial sanctions on Iran, including a prohibition to export arms to Iran, dual-use goods and goods which could be used in enrichment-related activities, a prohibition to import crude oil, natural gas, petrochemical and petroleum products, freezing the assets of the Central Bank of Iran and major Iranian commercial banks, preventing access to EU airports of Iranian cargo flights, and travel restrictions and asset freezes imposed against other listed persons and entities.

Since January 2014, some of the EU sanctions against Iran have been suspended. This was done as part of the implementation of the interim agreement known as the Joint Plan of Action in November 2013. Endi