Today marks a year since the signing of the Iranian nuclear program agreement. "Six" international negotiators (five permanent UN Security Council members and Germany) and Iran have agreed on a joint comprehensive action plan at last year's meeting in Vienna, held on July 14.
It took about six months to carry out all the preparatory steps for the beginning of its implementation. In particular, Iran pledged not to produce weapons-grade plutonium, to have not more than 300 kg of uranium enriched up to 3.67% at its disposal for over 15 years, to convert nuclear facilities and use them only for peaceful purposes. Moreover, Iran should have export excesses of heavy water, dismantle centrifuges and put the remaining nuclear activity under strict control of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), gazeta.ru reports.
The arms embargo, imposed by the UN Security Council, will remain for the period of five years. Ban on the supply of ballistic missile technology to Iran - for eight years. IAEA's experts will monitor the country's nuclear facilities for 25 years. In case terms of the agreement are violated, sanctions will be renewed. In their turn, Western partners adopted measures for the removal of sanctions and restrictions from Iran. Only on January 16 of this year, Iran and "six" were able to announce the beginning of "implementation of the agreement."
At the same time, as Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said yesterday, Tehran may restore its military nuclear program. According to him, it can happen if the international community and the US in particular will undermine the process of restoring political and economic ties.
A senior research fellow of the Institute for Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladimir Sazhin, summing up this year's results in an interview with Vestnik Kavkaza, noted that the requirements, set by both sides in the agreement, are still the main factor. "Indeed, almost all paragraphs of the plan are carried out by both Iranian side and its opponents. It is confirmed by the UN Security Council, which adopted corresponding resolution on the basis of this plan a few days after signing of the agreement," he pointed out.
Nevertheless, maybe not immediately, but for this entire year, international business actively returned to Iran, and it is still returning. Thanks to this agreement, Iran came out of the political, economic and financial isolation. There are veru good prospects for it despite the fact that not everything is done quickly," the expert concluded.
