The Joint Commission established under the July 2015 Iran nuclear deal will convene in Vienna on Friday to address issues related to the implementation of the accord, most likely including the remaining US sanctions that have deterred wary overseas firms from setting foot in the Iranian market.
The pact, negotiated with P5+1 (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany), has imposed time-bound limitations on Iran's nuclear program and has lifted the international sanctions in return.
Any problem arising from the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, as the accord is formally called, are addressed by the commission, and made up of representatives from all the seven parties to the action plan.
It will be the commission's third meeting and is expected to focus particularly on Iran's complaints that it is not benefiting from the nuclear deal. Tehran has told western leaders that foreign banks still steer clear of processing Iranian transactions with the outside world on fears of falling foul of the remaining US restrictions over alleged human rights abuses and country's missile program, ISNA reported.
Under the US restrictions, foreign parties dealing with Iranian businesses are denied access to the US financial system for dollar clearance services.
***Zarif-Kerry Meeting
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who is in New York to attend a ceremony for signing the Paris Agreement on climate change, is to discuss the issue today in a meeting with his American counterpart John Kerry on the sidelines of the high-level ceremony.
Zarif told a news conference with EU counterpart, Federica Mogherini, in Tehran on Saturday that the US must do more to remove obstacles to the key banking sector.
"It's essential that the other side, especially the United States, fulfill its commitments not on paper but in practice and removes the obstacles especially in the banking sector," he was quoted as saying by Reuters.
A day earlier, the governor of the Central Bank of Iran called on Washington and the European Union to help it access the global financial system, including assets that were supposed to be unfrozen following the JCPOA.
"They need to do whatever is needed to honor their commitments," Valiollah Seif said at an event on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank spring meetings in Washington.
"Otherwise the JCPOA breaks up under its own terms."
