Report paving way for Iran sanctions relief likely on Saturday – source
An IAEA report verifying that Iran has kept its promises under a nuclear deal it reached with world powers last year is likely to be issued on Saturday, paving the way for sanctions on Tehran to be lifted, a diplomatic source said on Friday.
Iranian and other officials had previously said they expected the report to come out on Friday.
“Almost all details are ironed out,” said another diplomatic source, based in the Austrian capital.
Vienna is home to the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog in charge of monitoring Iran’s implementation of the measures required in the deal Iran reached with the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany last July.
The July deal calls on the agency to release its report once it has verified Iran has implemented all nuclear-related measures. The IAEA had no comment on Friday on the timing of the report.
Iranian officials have said Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and the European Union’s Federica Mogherini would issue a statement on Saturday or Sunday on the “Implementation Day” of the nuclear deal and the lifting of sanctions.
Under the July agreement, Iran agreed to shrink its atomic programme in exchange for the lifting of some EU, U.S. and U.N sanctions, which would allow billions of dollars of investment to flow into the country.
Since July, Iran has drastically reduced the number of centrifuges installed at its enrichment sites, shipped tonnes of low-enriched uranium materials to Russia and dismantled the core of its Arak nuclear reactor.
Some officials said a meeting in relation to Iran might take place on Saturday in Vienna, where the deal was reached.
“There may be some sort of a meeting tomorrow in Vienna, after which, if everything goes well, we will issue a statement from the Secretary-General,” U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters.
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WSJ: BRUSSELS—The European Union has rolled over until January 28 the modest sanctions suspension Iran won following the 2013 interim nuclear deal.
The move comes as Western and Iranian officials say they expect the full implementation of last July’s final nuclear deal to take place in coming days. That will trigger the suspension of broad European, U.S. and United Nations sanctions on Iran.
“As soon as the International Atomic Energy Agency confirms that Iran has taken the nuclear measures under” July’s deal, member states “will give effect to the lifting of all EU economic financial sanctions taken in connection with the Iranian nuclear program,” the bloc said in a news release. That “will supersede the limited sanctions relief extended today,” the bloc said.
Under the interim deal, struck in November 2013, Iran won relief from sanctions on gold and precious-metals trading and some measures affecting its auto and petrochemicals exports. The sanctions relief, which included the unfreezing of some oil revenues held under U.S. sanctions abroad, was estimated at the time to be worth some $7 billion.
In exchange, Iran agreed modest restraints on its nuclear program.
July’s final deal lifts most sanctions on Iran in exchange for major steps to wind back Tehran’s nuclear activities.
According to EU diplomats, the bloc was originally considering rolling over the sanctions suspension for three weeks but as Iran raced to complete the work needed for the final nuclear deal to take effect, they cut the rollover period to two weeks.
