Anti-Sanctions Law Strategic Reaction to Trump’s Measures

Iran’s permanent representative to Vienna-based international organizations said a recent law passed by the Iranian Parliament to counter unilateral US sanctions against the country was a strategic reaction to anti-Iran measures taken by the administration of former US president, Donald Trump.
Kazem Gharibabadi also told IRNA on Sunday that Iran has informed the International Atomic Energy Agency and its member states of various aspects of the law and reasons behind its ratification by the Iranian Parliament.
He said, “The report has noted that the ratification of this law was in fact a strategic reaction to measures taken by the Trump administration over the past years” and also to the inaction shown by other parties to the 2015 nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, in the face of US unilateral withdrawal from the deal and the reimposition of sanctions on Tehran.
On Dec. 1, Iranian lawmakers overwhelmingly voted in favor of the “Strategic Action Plan to Lift Sanctions and Safeguard Interests of Iranian People”, which tasked the Iranian administration with suspending more commitments under JCPOA after Trump pulled the United States out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal on May 8, 2018.
The law, among other things, required the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran to produce at least 120 kg of 20% enriched uranium annually and start the installation, gas injection, enrichment and storage of nuclear materials up to an appropriate enrichment degree within three months using at least 1,000 IR-2m centrifuges.
A month later, Tehran announced the beginning of the process to enrich uranium to 20% purity at its Fordow nuclear facility in a tit-for-tat move against the US withdrawal and the European countries’ failure to protect Iran’s interests.
Gharibabadi said the report has emphasized that all the measures taken by Tehran to reciprocate Washington’s unilateral withdrawal from the JCPOA are being carried out under the supervision and verification of IAEA, adding that they are reversible in case of other parties’ fulfillment of their obligations and removal of all anti-Iran sanctions.

Litany of Complaints 

The Iranian envoy noted that the US “unilateral and unlawful” pullout from the nuclear deal, reimposition of sanctions that had been lifted as per JCPOA, the imposition of new sanctions under different pretexts and the pressure piled on countries and private companies to pursue Trump’s so-called “maximum pressure” campaign against Tehran are among issues mentioned in the report.
In the report, the diplomat said, Iran has also criticized the European Union and the three European signatories to JCPOA, namely Britain, France and Germany, for failing to adopt appropriate measures to guarantee Tehran’s interests under the nuclear deal and to effectively counter and make up for the US sanctions despite the Islamic Republic’s fulfillment of its commitment for over one year after the US withdrawal. 
IAEA, he added, had verified Iran’s full compliance with the nuclear deal in 15 consecutive reports.
The nuclear deal was initially signed between Iran and six world powers—the United States, France, Britain, Russia and China plus Germany—and was endorsed in the form of UN Security Council Resolution 2231 shortly afterwards.
But Trump ordered the unilateral withdrawal of Washington from the accord and reinstated the anti-Iran sanctions lifted by the deal.
Iran remained fully compliant with JCPOA for an entire year, waiting for the co-signatories to fulfill their end of the bargain by offsetting the impacts of American bans on the Iranian economy.
In response to the US withdrawal from JCPOA, Tehran has so far rowed back its nuclear commitments several times in compliance with articles 26 and 36 of the nuclear deal. Tehran, however, has stressed that its retaliatory measures will be reversible if the United States lifts its sanctions as a prelude to rejoining JCPOA.
Gharibabadi said the adoption of a policy based on excessive demands, lack of commitment to JCPOA obligations, acts of (nuclear) sabotage and the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientists and offering support for such policy by remaining silent in the face of its destructive results, despite Iran’s compliance with the nuclear deal and its transparent cooperation with IAEA were among other issues explained in the report.