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Trump Administration Recertifies Iranian Compliance with JCPOA Notwithstanding Increasing Concern with Iranian Behavior

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 February 2018

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Extract

In July 2015, Iran, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, Germany, and the European Union adopted the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Pursuant to that agreement, Iran committed to limiting the scope and content of its nuclear program in exchange for relief from various nuclear-related sanctions imposed by the other signatories. By law, the U.S. State Department is required to certify Iran's compliance with the agreement every ninety days. The Trump administration first certified Iran's compliance with the agreement in April 2017, albeit reluctantly. In its first certification, the Trump administration expressed ongoing concern about Iran's sponsorship of terrorism, and repeated previous criticism of the JCPOA as “fail[ing] to achieve the objective of a non-nuclear Iran.”

Type
Use of Force, Arms Control, and Nonproliferation
Information
American Journal of International Law , Volume 111 , Issue 4 , October 2017 , pp. 1056 - 1062
Copyright
Copyright © 2018 by The American Society of International Law 

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References

1 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, July 14, 2015, 55 ILM 103 (2016) [hereinafter JCPOA]; Daugirdas, Kristina & Mortenson, Julian Davis, Contemporary Practice of the United States, 109 AJIL 649 (2015)Google Scholar; 110 AJIL 789 (2016).

2 See Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act, Pub. L. No. 114-17, 129 Stat. 201 (2015).

3 Letter from Rex Tillerson, U.S. Sec'y of State, to Paul Ryan, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives (Apr. 18, 2017) [hereinafter Letter from Rex Tillerson]; see also Daugirdas, Kristina & Mortenson, Julian Davis, Contemporary Practice of the United States, 111 AJIL 776 (2017)Google Scholar.

4 Letter from Rex Tillerson, supra note 3.

5 U.S. Dep't of State Press Release, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson Press Availability (Apr. 19, 2017), at https://www.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2017/04/270341.htm.

6 Chris Ford, Special Assistant to the President, Keynote Address at the 2017 Arms Control Association Annual Meeting (June 2, 2017), at https://www.armscontrol.org/ArmsControl17#chrisford.

7 IAEA Director General, Verification and Monitoring in the Islamic Republic of Iran in Light of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2231 (June 2, 2017), available at https://www.iaea.org/sites/default/files/gov2017-24.pdf.

8 U.S. Mission to the United Nations Press Release, Nikki Haley, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Remarks at a UN Security Council Briefing on Non-proliferation in Iran (June 29, 2017), at https://usun.state.gov/remarks/7886 [hereinafter June 29 Haley Remarks].

9 S.C. Res. 2231, Annex B, para. 3 (July 20, 2015).

10 June 29 Haley Remarks, supra note 8.

11 Id.

12 U.S. Dep't of State Press Release, U.S. Announces New Iran-Related Sanctions (July 17, 2017), at https://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2017/07/272635.htm [July 17 U.S. Dep't of State Press Release].

13 Id.

14 Id.

15 Id. The sanctions were designated pursuant to Executive Order 13382, targeting proliferators of weapons of mass destruction, their means of delivery, and supporters of such activity. Exec. Order No. 13,382, 70 Fed. Reg. 38,567 (2005) and Executive Order 13581 (targeting transnational criminal organizations), Exec. Order No. 13,581, 76 Fed. Reg. 44,757 (2011).

16 July 17 U.S. Dep't of State Press Release, supra note 12.

17 U.S. Dep't of State Press Release, Department Press Briefing (July 18, 2017), at https://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2017/07/272665.htm. The State Department specifically noted that a key purpose of the JCPOA is to “contribute to regional and international peace and security” and the administration believes Iranian government actions undermine this goal. Id.

18 Iran Vows Retaliation Against New US Sanctions, PressTV (July 18, 2017), at http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2017/07/18/528919/Iran-US-Foreign-Ministry-Sanctions-missile.

19 U.S. Says Iran Rocket Test Breaches U.N. Resolution, Reuters (July 27, 2017), at https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-satellite/u-s-says-iran-rocket-test-breaches-u-n-resolution-idUSKBN1AC1YY.

20 Id.

21 U.S. Dep't of State Press Release, Iran's Space Launch Vehicle Inconsistent with UNSCR 2231 Joint Statement by France, Germany, the United Kingdom and United States (July 28, 2017), at https://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2017/07/272934.htm.

22 Id.

23 Id.

24 U.S. Dep't of Treasury Press Release, Treasury Sanctions Key Ballistic Missile Entities in Iran (July 28, 2017), at https://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/sm0136.aspx. Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group (SHIG) itself, responsible for the development and production of Iran's liquid propellant ballistic missiles, is currently sanctioned under Executive Order 13382 and is also currently sanctioned by the United Nations and the European Union. Id.

25 Id.

26 See Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, Pub. L. No.155-44 (2017). The statute also imposes sanctions on both Russia and North Korea. Id.

27 Presidential Statement on Signing the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, 2017 Daily Comp. Pres. Doc. 1 (Aug. 2, 2017).

28 Iran Complains to JCPOA Commission over New US Bans: Larijani, PressTV (Aug. 1, 2017), at http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2017/08/01/530369/Iran-US-Security-Council-Ali-Larijani-Parliament-Speaker-sanctions [hereinafter Iran Complains to JCPOA Commission]. The Joint Commission is made up of the eight members that negotiated the JCPOA and oversees dispute resolution if any of the JCPOA participant states believe any or all of the EU/EU+3 were “not meeting their commitments.” JCPOA, supra note 1, para. 36. See also Daugirdas, Kristina & Mortenson, Julian Davis, Contemporary Practice of the United States, 109 AJIL 649, 652–53 (2015)Google Scholar.

29 Iran Complains to JCPOA Commission, supra note 28.

30 Id.

31 JCPOA, supra note 1, para. 26.

32 Id., para. 28.

33 Id., para. 29.

34 Id., para. 36. The Advisory Board would consist of three members, one appointed by each participant in the dispute and a third independent member. Id.

35 Rick Gladstone, Iran Says New U.S. Sanctions Violate Nuclear Deal, N.Y. Times (Aug. 1, 2017), at https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/01/world/middleeast/iran-nuclear-trump-sanctions-complaint.html; see also European Union External Action Service Press Release, Chair's Statement Following the 21 July 2017 Meeting of the JCPOA Joint Commission (July 21, 2017), at https://eeas.europa.eu/headquarters/headquarters-homepage/30249/chairs-statement-following-21-july-2017-meeting-jcpoa-joint-commission_pt.

36 U.S. Dep't of State Press Release, Remarks at a Press Availability (Aug. 1, 2017), at https://www.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2017/08/272979.htm.

37 Aaron Blake, Trump's Tough-on-North Korea, Toned-Down-on-Russia Q&A Session, Annotated, Wash. Post (Aug. 11, 2017), at https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/08/11/president-trumps-contrarian-qa-session-with-reporters-annotated.

38 Iran Can Return to Pre-JCPOA State if US Slaps More Sanctions: Rouhani, PressTV (Aug. 15, 2017), at http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2017/08/15/531846/Iran-nuclear-deal-US.

39 U.S. Mission to the United Nations Press Release, Nikki Haley, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Haley on Iran's Threats to Quit the JCPOA (August 15, 2017) at https://usun.state.gov/remarks/7933.

40 See U.S. Mission to the United Nations Press Release, Readout of a Meeting Between Ambassador Haley and Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency Yukiya Amano (Aug. 23, 2017), at https://vienna.usmission.gov/readout-meeting-ambassador-haley-director-general-international-atomic-energy-agency-yukiya-amano.

41 Id.; see also U.S. Mission to the United Nations Press Release, Ambassador Haley on the Latest Iranian Misbehavior (Aug. 31, 2017), at https://usun.state.gov/remarks/7950 [hereinafter Aug. 31 Haley Remarks].

42 JCPOA, supra note 1, Annex I, para. 75.

43 Id., Annex I, para. 76.

44 See Aug. 31 Haley Remarks, supra note 41.

45 Parisa Hafezi, Iran Rejects U.S. Demand for U.N. Visit to Military Sites, Reuters (Aug. 29, 2017), at https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-nuclear-usa/iran-rejects-u-s-demand-for-u-n-visit-to-military-sites-idUSKCN1B918E.

46 See IAEA Director General, Verification and Monitoring in the Islamic Republic of Iran in Light of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2231 (Aug. 31, 2017), available at https://www.iaea.org/sites/default/files/gov2017-35.pdf.

47 Nikki Haley, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Address on Iran and the JCPOA to the American Enterprise Institute (Sept. 5, 2017), at https://www.aei.org/publication/nikki-haley-address-on-iran-and-the-jcpoa.

48 Id.

49 Id.