BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 17
By Elnur Baghishov – Trend:
The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) signed between Iran and the 5+ 1 group could give a big boost to Iran's economy, Iranian expert on energy issues Mehrdad Emadi told Trend.
According to Emadi, with the entry into force of the nuclear plan, many countries have shown interest in cooperation with Iran in many areas including the purchase of crude oil from Iran and in the country oil and gas projects.
Emadi added that the nuclear deal was aimed to provide Iran's connection to the world's banking system alongside the lifting of sanctions on economy and oil sales.
The Iranian expert emphasized that at the same, an influential group inside Iran is not interested in a nuclear deal, in particular, and in Iran's high-level relations with the rest of the world, in general.
"This group does not want to lose its influence and hidden financial sources in the Iranian economy. If Iran could fully connect to the world banking system, the financial sources of this group would be known and disclosed to the public," Emadi said.
The expert noted that the failure of JCPOA benefited the group, while it was a major blow to Iran's economy.
As a result of devaluation in Iran in the summer of 2018, the Iranian currency depreciated four times and inflation rose to 40 percent.
In January 2016, JCPOA was launched between Iran and the P5+1 group (US, Russia, China, UK, France and Germany) in connection with Iran's nuclear program. In May 2018, the US announced its withdrawal from the deal and imposed sanctions against Iran in November of the same year.
To preserve the agreements reached as part of the JCPOA, the European signatories of the deal stated in January 2019 that a financial mechanism for maintaining trade with Iran called INSTEX was formed.
On May 8, 2019, Iran announced that it had ceased fulfilling its commitments regarding the sale of over 300 kilograms of uranium, as stated in the deal, basing its decision on the other signatories having not fulfilled their obligations. On July 7, Iran announced that it will not be fulfilling its commitments regarding the enrichment of uranium at 3.67 percent and the reconstruction of the Arak Heavy Water Reactor Facility as stated in the deal.
Iran announced that it will enrich uranium using next-generation centrifuges and will not mix it with the enriched uranium residues as part of the third step of reducing commitments in JCPOA on Sept.5.
On Nov. 5, 2019, Iran announced that it took the fourth step in connection with reducing its commitments to the nuclear agreement. So, uranium gas is being pumped to the centrifuges at the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant.
Iran took the last fifth step in reducing the number of its commitments within JCPOA. Iran no longer faces any restrictions on its nuclear program.
The US imposed new sanctions on Iran in November 2018. Over the past period, the sanctions affected Iranian oil exports, more than 700 banks, companies and individuals.