BREAKING: IAEA Confirms Iran has met its Nuclear Obligations

/

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Kayvon Afshari
+1 347-878-5291
kayvon@us-iran.org

On the heels of good news about a prisoner swap, today the International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed that Iran has completed the necessary preparatory steps to begin implementation of the nuclear accord. The AIC welcomes “Implementation Day”, and will continue to support and push for dutiful implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) by both the US and Iran. Specifically, the sanctions outlined in the JCPOA must be dutifully lifted, economic relations with Iran must be normalized, and Iran’s relationship with the IAEA must be normalized.

In light of the significant development, IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano issued the following statement: “Relations between Iran and the IAEA now enter a new phase. It is an important day for the international community. I congratulate all those who helped make it a reality.”

As a result of the IAEA’s confirmation, UN sanctions on Iran are now lifted, including resolutions 1696 (2006), 1737 (2007), 1747 (2007), 1803 (2008), 1835 (2008), 1929 (2010) and 2224 (2015). 

A joint statement issued by EU High Representative Federica Mogherini and Foreign Minister Javad Zarif confirmed the lifting of these sanctions: “As Iran has fulfilled its commitments, today, multilateral and national economic and financial sanctions related to Iran's nuclear programme are lifted in accordance with the JCPOA”

Over the past 25 years, the AIC has pursued its mission of achieving normalized relations between the United States and Iran. Insofar as the nuclear issue proved to be a thorny roadblock to that goal, the Council supported and continues to support a peaceful resolution. Now that Iran has dutifully implemented its obligations and the P5+1 is reciprocating, the challenge facing the US and Iran is how to harness that diplomatic momentum toward securing a broader rapprochement.

The JCPOA set a meaningful precedent whereby diplomacy was able to achieve on paper what threats and coercion could not. Now, Implementation Day has set a new precedent whereby diplomacy’s gains are not only on paper, but producing real outcomes that are mutually-beneficial for both the US and Iran. This diplomatic trajectory must continue and the AIC will continue to lead the effort to guide it in the right direction

/ / Comment
, , ,

Kayvon Afshari

Kayvon Afshari managed the campaign to elect Hooshang Amirahmadi as President of Iran. In this role, he directed the campaign’s event planning, publicity, online social media, web analytics, and delivered speeches. Mr. Afshari has also been working at the CBS News foreign desk for over five years. He has coordinated coverage of Iran’s 2009 post-election demonstrations, the Arab Spring, the earthquake in Haiti, and many other stories of international significance. He holds a Master in International Relations from New York University’s Department of Politics, and graduated with distinction from McGill University in 2007 with a double major in political science and Middle Eastern studies. At NYU, his research focused on quantitative analysis and the Middle East with an emphasis on US-Iran relations. In his 2012 Master’s thesis, he devised a formula to predict whether Israel would launch a pre-emptive strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities, concluding that an overt strike would not materialize.