According to the schedule outlined by the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, Tehran must now begin to dismantle part of its already existing nuclear program. Once the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) verifes that it has done so, sanctions can be lifted. But, write Ayelet Savyon and Yigal Carmon, it seems unlikely this will go as stipulated:
Iran is providing only a show of making progress in its implementation of its obligations. Inactive centrifuges are being transferred from site to site, and not a single active centrifuge has yet been dismantled. Iran has reached agreements with Russia to store its enriched uranium, and documents have been signed with the superpowers for changing the designation of the Arak reactor. But so far Iran has actually met none of its obligations. . . .
Holding back Iran’s implementation is the October 21, 2015 letter from the Iranian supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, to the Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, setting nine new [Iranian] conditions that must be met first.
U.S. representatives have given no indication that the sanctions will be eased or lifted if Iran does not meet its obligations under the JCPOA. However, in his December 15, 2015 statements, . . . the IAEA secretary-general Yukiya Amano hinted at such a possibility. . . .
In the meantime, in his December 16, 2015 address to the nation, Rouhani effusively praised the JCPOA and Iran’s gains under it, and stated that in “January” the sanctions on Iran would be lifted.
Read more on MEMRI: http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/8902.htm