Verification of Sanctions Removal Will Take 3-6 Months

An advisor to the parliament speaker said if Iran and the US reach an agreement on the removal of all sanctions through the ongoing Vienna talks, it would take Tehran at least 3-6 months to verify the US measure and make sure that sanctions have been really removed.
Mehdi Mohammadi made the statement in an interview with Khamenei.ir, which was published on Sunday.
“After withdrawal from the [nuclear] agreement [with Tehran], the Americans inflicted significant damage on Iran and it is estimated that the country has suffered about $200 billion in damage since May 2018 alone,” he added.
The United States, under former president, Donald Trump, left the multilateral 2015 nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, signed between Iran and six world powers in May 2018 and restored economic sanctions that the accord had lifted in addition to imposing new non-nuclear ones.
Tehran reacted to the US non-commitment to the deal with reciprocal nuclear measures that it is entitled to take under JCPOA’s Paragraph 36.
After a change in US administration, new president, Joe Biden, claimed that Washington was ready to rejoin the deal.
The Islamic Republic has insisted that it would only stop its non-adherence to JCPOA once the US lifted all the sanctions in one step and after Iran verifies that the sanctions relief has actually taken place. The US has so far failed to meet Iran’s condition.

Fundamental Conditions 

Mohammadi said Iran has set a number of fundamental conditions to accept the US return to JCPOA and its membership to the P4+1 group of countries, which refer to the parties remaining in the accord.
“The first condition [set by Iran] is that the removal of sanctions should be carried out in a way that it would help Iran take economic advantage expected from JCPOA. We have gained no economic advantage from JCPOA, but the opposite side has totally benefited from it and, for example, has restricted Iran’s nuclear program to limits set by JCPOA,” he said.
“The second condition is that all sanctions should be lifted before Tehran resumes compliance with its commitments [as per the deal].”
Mohammadi noted that Iran will accept no differentiation among sanctions [imposed by the US], such as JCPOA-related, non-JCPOA-related, imposed by Trump, or imposed by others.
“Of course, the US should first lift all sanctions, so that the economic effects of the sanctions removal would be clear for Iran and Iran should verify those economic effects. When this happens, Iran will be ready to return to its nuclear commitments as has been stipulated by JCPOA,” he said.
The advisor noted that the next condition set by Iran, which is “very important” is that the simple lifting of sanctions in legal terms is not sufficient, adding that the only thing that the Islamic Republic will accept in return for stopping or limiting its nuclear work is gaining real economic advantages of JCPOA.
“Iran’s fourth condition is that just as they verify our commitments, we must be also able to verify their commitments,” he said.
“They should first fulfill their obligations and then Iran will be able to substantiate in a rational period that the lifting of sanctions will result in actual economic benefits and consequences.”
Mohammadi said the least time needed for the verification of the economic effects of sanctions removal is between three and six months. 
“It will take at least three to six months for us to ensure that sanctions have been really removed, have practical result and Iran’s foreign trade has been reinstated,” he said.
In a post on his Instagram page on April 8, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said any US claim to having removed Iran’s sanctions must be verified by Tehran and this means that the Islamic Republic should be able to sell its oil under normal conditions and receive its money.
“Verification [of US sanctions removal] means [being capable of] selling oil in an official way, with ease and under normal conditions, and its money be received by Iran,” the Leader added.