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Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (“JCPOA”)

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The UK, France and Germany (the European signatories to the Joint Collective Plan of Action (“JCPOA”) nuclear deal with Iran in 2015, referred to as the “E3”) have decided to retain certain sanctions previously imposed upon Iran. The press release published by the E3 announcing this decision is available here. The JCPOA was agreed in 2015 between the E3/EU+3 (China, France, Germany, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States, with the EU’s…

On September 19, 2020, the US State Department issued a press release announcing the re-imposition of sanctions against Iran pursuant to the snapback process under UN Security Council Resolution 2231, the resolution that essentially terminated all UN sanctions on Iran pursuant to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (“JCPOA”). At the same time, the international community has rejected this unilateral US attempt to snapback UN sanctions. To implement the snapback of UN sanctions, on September…

Representatives of China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom and Iran met on 26 February 2020 at a meeting of the Joint Commission of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). All participants reaffirmed their commitment to the JCPOA and their strong support and collective responsibility for the continuation of key nuclear non-proliferation projects. The meeting follows the announcement on 14 January 2020 that the JCPOA Dispute Resolution Mechanism had been initiated by the E3 Foreign Ministers (see our earlier blog post here); the time limit for Joint Commission consideration of Iran’s actions was extended without a specific deadline at the end of January (extending the 15 day period that was triggered on 14 January).

On 1 December 2019, it was announced that six more countries – Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, Norway and Sweden – had signed up to the clearing house, Instex, joining France, Germany and the UK. Based in Paris, Instex functions as a clearing house that allows Iran to continue to sell oil and import other products or services in exchange. A joint statement by the existing shareholders, France, Germany and the UK, welcomed the development stating…