Implementation Day of the JCPOA
Today is Implementation Day of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Indeed it is a historic day for international community and mostly for Iranians. January 16, 2016, is the day that we saw EU Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini and Iranian FM Mohammad Javad Zarif standing next to each other again, but this time to pronounce the words and sentences that once we thought we can only hear them in our dreams and imaginations. “With Courage, political will, mutual respect, and leadership we delivered on what the world was hoping for.”
July 14, 2015, was the landmark of signing the JCPOA agreement between the P5+1 and Iran to ensure Iran’s nuclear program will be exclusively peaceful. The agreement required Iran to drastically reduce its number of centrifuges and dismantle the heavy-water reactor near Arak in order to prevent the country from making atomic bond. In return Iran demanded that multilateral and national economic, financial sanctions, and the UN sanctions related to Iran’s nuclear program to be lifted.
After signing the JCPOA Iran was monitored for six months to make sure it has been obligated to its commitments. After the confirmation by U.N. inspectors that Iran has followed its promises, oil and financial sanctions on Iran are lifted and roughly $100 billion of its frozen money and assets are released.
As it was stated by Federica Mogherini and Mohammad Javad Zarif on the Implementation Day it is an honor for both sides to reach an agreement by negotiations and multilateral diplomacy that shows the world that there are practical solutions to the most difficult issues which make our world a safer place.
May the future days be prosperous, secure, and peaceful for all nations on earth.
