Iran Parliament’s Research Center stresses full removal of all sanctions

Majlis (Iranian Parliament)’s Research Center issues a report, assessing underway talks between the Islamic Republic and the remaining members of the 2015 nuclear agreement between Tehran and world countries, stresses the need for complete removal of all sanctions against the country, an issue that is being addressed during underway negotiations concerning the agreement.

The Center issued the report on Monday, strongly rejecting any partial sanction removal.

The report read, “What signifies for the Islamic Republic is that, in addition to the legal procedure that is required for removal of all the sanctions and implementation of relevant changes in the instructions that concern the US Treasury Department (including its Office of Foreign Assets Control and Office of Financial Institutions), the Islamic Republic should be able to quantifiably and palpably draw the benefit that have resulted from this agreement.”

The Center recalled the precedent of the United States’ departure from the nuclear deal that is officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). It underlined that failing complete removal of all the sanctions that prevent Iran from drawing the benefits, international companies would, this time around, end up treading even more cautiously, when it comes to engaging in transaction with the country.

“In practice, by partial removal of the sanctions in some sectors, including the petroleum sector, the likelihood may be created for Iran to return to the situation that existed before the US’s departure, despite all the existing limitations. However, Iran’s banking relations and commercial transactions would be subject to more limitations and restrictions this time compared to the past,” the report noted.

“This is because, on the one hand, continued enforcement of part of the sanctions and sustained categorization of more than 500 Iranian persons and institutions as Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) raises the risk of engagement in commercial and banking transactions with Iran to even a higher degree than the time when the US was in the JCPOA. This is because, foreign banks and financial institutions risk incurring heavy penalties by the US for potentially failing to carry out the so-called due customer assessment processes that are required by Washington,” the Center specified. “On the other, foreign companies and banks would be acting more cautiously than before, when it comes to dealing with Iran and investing in the country, owing to their concerns about the likelihood that the sanction exemption periods may not be extended beyond their 120- and 180-day-long stretches or the US may leave the JCPOA again.”

“Therefore, all in all, accepting the US’s proposals would limit Iran’s benefits from the JCPOA more than the previous round,” the report said, and also warned that “as time goes by, Iran may even have a harder time benefiting from the deal due to the likelihood that the US may levy new sanctions against the country under non-nuclear pretexts.”

Accordingly, based on the Research Center’s assessment, all the sanctions, whether the ones that have targeted different Iranian sectors or those targeting various Iranian individuals have to be removed so the JCPOA and its benefits can truly materialize for Iran.

The Research Center comprises the scientific source of Majlis’ decisions.

According to a legislation approved by the parliament, any incumbent government has to report on the results of negotiations and verification of any sanction relief process to Majlis. The legislative body will, in turn, take necessary decisions about whether the country should accept the situation or not.

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