Austrian President: It is Unclear How Long It Will Take to Lift Sanctions on Iran

The President of Austria stated that it is unclear how long it will take to lift Western sanctions against Iran, and he cannot predict this duration. Heinz Fischer expressed hope in an interview with the IRIB news agency published on Monday, April 9, that the parties would adhere to the Vienna nuclear agreement and that Western sanctions against Iran would be lifted as scheduled. Iran and six world powers reached an agreement last July regarding Tehran's nuclear file, under which the Islamic Republic suspended many of its nuclear activities in exchange for the commitment that international sanctions against Iran would be lifted. However, despite more than two months passing since the lifting of these sanctions, Iran's access to financial markets is still limited, and international banks are refraining from dealing with Iran due to concerns over U.S. penalties and the uncertainty surrounding the lifted sanctions. The President of Austria mentioned that Austria and the European Union cannot lift the SWIFT sanctions alone, and the U.S. also plays a role in this matter. He stated that negotiations to lift the SWIFT sanctions are ongoing, but Austria is a small member of the SWIFT council. Fischer's statements come as Hamid Baidi-Nejad, the Director General for Political and International Security Affairs at Iran's Foreign Ministry, reported on February 17 that the Central Bank and 15 other Iranian banks had connected to the SWIFT network. SWIFT is an organization that enables secure, fast, and low-cost interbank financial communications worldwide. Iranian banks were connected to this system until 2011, but after the intensification of banking and oil sanctions, the connection of sanctioned Iranian banks to this system was cut off on March 17 of that year. Last year, some officials of the Islamic Republic, including Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, reported delays from some major European banks in lifting sanctions against Iran, and Hamid Tehranfar, the Deputy Supervisor of the Central Bank, stated that 'Iranophobia in the banking sector' continues. Meanwhile, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, said in his remarks on the first day of Farvardin that the U.S. is effectively violating its commitments under the Vienna nuclear agreement by fostering doubt and fear in the international banking network, and 'foreign banks are unwilling to deal with Iran for fear of the U.S.' Chris Beckmeier, a U.S. State Department official, rejected the Islamic Republic leader's claim, stating, 'We act in good faith, and it has never been our intention to create ambiguity or deceive anyone.' In recent months, some sanctions on Iran have been lifted. For instance, the U.S. Treasury Department issued a 'general license' on April 5 for the sale of passenger aircraft to Iran, allowing American companies to sell aircraft to Iran after more than three decades. In another part of his interview with the IRIB news agency, the President of Austria emphasized the increase in cooperation between the two countries, stating that Tehran and Vienna could also discuss human rights, and these discussions would be beneficial for both sides. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani was scheduled to travel to Vienna on Wednesday, April 11, at the official invitation of his Austrian counterpart, leading a high-level political and economic delegation, but the Austrian presidential office announced that this trip had been postponed for security reasons. The President of Austria visited Iran on September 7 last year as the first president of a European country after the Vienna nuclear agreement. The Iranian President, during his first trip to Europe in early February last year, visited Italy, the Vatican, and France, resulting in the signing of several economic memorandums between Tehran and Paris and Tehran and Rome, including a memorandum for the purchase of 118 Airbus aircraft from France.