Iran Says New U.S. Sanctions Violate Nuclear Deal

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/01/world/middleeast/iran-nuclear-trump-sanctions-complaint.html

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Furious over new American sanctions, Iran said on Tuesday that it had lodged a complaint with the commission that polices possible violations of the Iranian nuclear agreement.

The complaint, disclosed by the speaker of Parliament, Ali Larijani, accused the United States of breaching the 2015 agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, between Iran and six world powers, including the United States.

Some analysts interpreted the move as posturing aimed at ensuring that if President Trump withdrew the United States from the agreement, as he has threatened, then his administration would be blamed and not Iran.

The agreement, which eased or ended many sanctions on Iran in return for its verifiable pledges of peaceful nuclear work, is regarded as one of the Obama administration’s signature foreign policy achievements.

Mr. Trump, who has often railed against Iran, has ordered subordinates to find ways to show that Iran is not complying, which would presumably provide a rationale for him to scrap the accord.

He also suggested in an interview last week with The Wall Street Journal that his administration would conclude that Iran is violating the agreement when the next 90-day review period comes up, in mid-October, under an American law aimed at ensuring Iranian compliance.

Many of Mr. Trump’s advisers, and even some top Republican critics of Iran in Congress, have urged him not to abandon the agreement.

Iran and the United States have often accused each other of violating the “spirit” of the agreement. But Mr. Larijani’s remarks indicated that Iran had gone a step further.

“With regard to the imposition of new sanctions by the U.S., in addition to diplomatic measures, which should be taken, a complaint had to be filed with the relevant commission and this has been done,” Mr. Larijani was quoted by the Iranian news media as saying in Tehran.

The commission includes representatives from all seven countries in the accord — Iran plus Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States — and is coordinated by Federica Mogherini, the European Union’s top foreign policy official.

Catherine Day, a spokeswoman for Ms. Mogherini’s office, did not comment on the Iranian complaint, which concerned some American sanctions announced after the commission’s last meeting on July 21. But in an emailed statement, Ms. Day said Iran’s views about sanctions had been “extensively discussed” in the most recent meetings.

Even with the increasingly sharp exchanges between the United States and Iran, the commission has said the accord is working. The Trump administration has also said, albeit grudgingly, that Iran is complying.

At the same time, the Trump administration has sought to penalize Iran with sanctions not directly covered by the nuclear agreement. The administration announced sanctions on July 18 related to Iran’s development and testing of missiles, along with its support for Syria’s government and software theft. It further penalized Iran with more sanctions on Friday after Iran launched a satellite into orbit.

New sanctions against Iran also are part of legislation passed by Congress last week that penalizes Russia and North Korea, which Mr. Trump is expected to sign.

Iran has strong motivations to preserve the nuclear agreement, which has led to increased revenue from oil, its most important export, and slowly expanding foreign investment. But analysts said Iran also was preparing for other outcomes.

Cliff Kupchan, the chairman of the Eurasia Group, a consultancy, said, “If this nuclear agreement goes south, the Iranians want blame to lie squarely on Washington’s front porch.”