memri
October 15, 2015 Special Dispatch No. 6187

Senior Iranian Negotiators Salehi, Kamalvandi: On October 19 President Obama Will Announce Lifting Of American Sanctions

October 15, 2015
Iran | Special Dispatch No. 6187

According to senior Iranian negotiators, Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran and an architect of the nuclear agreement (JCPOA), and Beherouz Kamalvandi, the spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, on October 19, 2015 President Obama will announce that sanctions will be lifted and not merely suspended, contrary to the July 14, 2015 text of the agreement to which Iran is obligated.[1]

If this report proves accurate, it means that President Obama surrendered to the threats and demands of Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to amend the nuclear agreement (JCPOA) on this critical point, because lifting sanctions instead of suspending them will not allow their automatic reimposition ("snapback"). In this way, President Obama's promise that the agreement incorporates the security mechanism of restoring the sanctions in the event of an Iranian violation, has been broken.

It should be emphasized that Salehi's statement has not been verified at this stage by any Western or American source.

Khamenei issued his demands and threat on September 3, 2015 in a public address before Iran's Assembly of Experts[2] and the Iranian Majlis incorporated them in the text that it approved on October 13, 2015.[3]

Following Khamenei's address in early September 2015, contacts between Iran and the US and the P5 +1 powers took place September 28, 2015, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly but their results were not published[4] and subsequently Khamenei issued a guideline on October 7, 2015 banning contacts with the US.[5]

 
Endnotes:

[1] Fars (Iran), October 15, 2015; ILNA (Iran), October 15, 2015.

[3] See MEMRI Inquiry and Analysis No. 1192, The Iranian Majlis Has Not Approved The JCPOA But Iran's Amended Version Of It, October 13, 2015.

[5] Twitter.com/khamenei_ir, October 7, 2015.

Share this Report: