EU will likely lift some Iran sanctions in December: France

(AFP) / 25 November 2013 Laurent Fabius said that EU ministers would gather together in “a few weeks” to put forward a proposal to partially lift some Iran sanctions.  (L-R) Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, US Secretary of State John Kerry, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, EU Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif attend the Iran nuclear talks at the Palais des Nations in Geneva on November 24, 2013. - Reuters French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, said on Monday the European Union would likely lift some sanctions on Iran in December, as part of a hard-won deal that curbs Tehran’s nuclear programme. Major points of nuclear agreement These are the main points in the nuclear deal signed on Saturday between the P5+1 world powers. Iran has agreed to halt all uranium “enrichment above five percent and dismantle the technical connections required to enrich above five per cent.” Iran has committed to neutralise its stockpile of uranium enriched to near 20 per cent by diluting it. Iran will build no new enrichment centrifuges for uranium, and halt progress towards commissioning a reactor at its Arak plant Iran will “not construct a facility capable of reprocessing. Without reprocessing, Iran cannot separate plutonium from spent fuel.” Iran will allow daily site inspections by experts from the United Nation nuclear watchdog IAEA and hand over information about the design of its Arak reactor. The P5+1 powers will establish a “joint commission” to work with the IAEA and monitor implementation of the agreement, “including the possible military dimension of Iran’s nuclear programme and Iran’s activities at Parchin.” In return, the P5+1 will “provide limited, temporary, targeted, and reversible” sanctions relief totalling around $7 billion. The world powers will not impose any new nuclear-related sanctions for six months if Iran holds up its end of the deal. They will suspend “certain sanctions on gold and precious metals, Iran’s auto sector, and Iran’s petrochemical exports, potentially providing Iran approximately $1.5 in revenue,” and “licence safety-related repairs and inspections inside Iran for certain Iranian airlines.” Some $4.2 billion from sanctioned Iranian oil sales will be transferred over the six months. — AFP World powers sealed the agreement with Iran in Geneva after four days of intense negotiations, promising to ease some crippling US and EU sanctions on Iran in return for limits on an enrichment programme the West suspects was aimed at developing an atomic bomb. Speaking on Europe 1 radio, Laurent Fabius said that EU foreign ministers would gather together in “a few weeks” to put forward a proposal to partially lift some sanctions, which the 28-member body will have to approve. “This lifting of sanctions is limited, targeted and reversible,” he said, adding that it would take place “in December”. The deal, which lasts for six months only while a more long-lasting solution is negotiated, also gives UN atomic inspectors more access to key nuclear facilities in Iran. Tehran has agreed that it will not enrich uranium over five per cent for the six-month period and will neutralise its entire stockpile of uranium enriched to 20 percent, which is close to weapons-grade and therefore an area of top concern. In return, the EU and United States will suspend sanctions on Iran’s petrochemical exports and gold and precious metals sector. US trade restrictions on the country’s auto industry will also be suspended. Altogether, Iran will receive some $7 billion (5.2 billion euros) in sanctions relief, Washington has said, and the powers have promised to impose no new embargo measures for six months if Tehran sticks to the accord. But the raft of international sanctions that have hobbled the Iranian economy remain untouched. Fabius said that Iran “commits to giving up the prospect of a nuclear weapon” as part of the interim deal. “As much as Iran can move forward where civilian nuclear energy is concerned, it cannot do so for the atomic weapon,” he added. The six powers involved in the negotiations — the United States, France, Britain, Russia, China and Germany — have hailed the deal as a key first step that wards off the threat of military escalation.