The ‘Adoption Day’ of the July 14 nuclear deal Iran signed with the six world powers is likely to be announced in a week, after the review procedure of the accord by relevant authorities are completed, a senior nuclear negotiator said Sunday.
According to the agreement, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, 90 days after the UN passed a resolution on July 20 to endorse it, is known as the Adoption Day, when the parties start making arrangements and preparations for implementing their commitments.
The JCPOA requires approval of Iran’s Parliament and the Supreme National Security Council before coming into effect.
On Sunday the Parliament approved by a vote of 139 to 100 the outlines of a bill setting out the framework for implementation of the action plan by the government.
“After the Majlis ends its debate on the details of the bill and submits it to the Guardians Council for final approval, the legal format for consideration of the deal will be completed,” Abbas Araqchi said after a Mjalis session at the weekend.
Iran signed a roadmap agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency alongside the nuclear deal with the P5+1 (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany) that commits it to providing enough information to the UN agency to allow it to prepare a final report assessing Tehran’s nuclear past and present by the end of the year.
The assessment is crucial to the removal of sanctions that Iran will be granted under the nuclear deal in return for temporary constraints on its nuclear energy program.
“The current phase of the roadmap, whose implementation is in progress parallel to the parliamentary proceedings [concerning the action plan], is expected to be complete in the coming days. If the two tasks are finalized, we can start making arrangements and preparations for the implementation of the JCPOA on Oct. 19 to be known as Adoption Day,” the senior Foreign Ministry official was quoted by IRNA as saying.
Soon after the Adoption Day, a joint commission comprising representatives of all parties to the accord and EU political director Helga Schmid will meet in Vienna.
“In the meeting, the EU will announce lifting of its sanctions and the US Congress will cease applying its own,” Araqchi said, adding that the EU and US measures will not take effect until Implementation Day, when Iran will have completed the measures it has undertaken under the JCPOA.
As agreed under the historic July deal, Implementation Day will occur after the IAEA verifies that Iran has complied with all its commitments.
Asked to comment on the exact date of the Implementation Day, Araqchi said, “Implementation Day will be announced when Iran has completed its measures. Now we cannot say when exactly that will be. We think it could be in the 45 to 60 days” after the Adoption Day.”
