New Foreign Ministry Report on JCPOA: 'Currency Exchanges Still Face Limitations'

The Iranian Foreign Ministry, in a report on the implementation of the Vienna nuclear agreement, described the impact of U.S. human rights and missile sanctions on the lifted nuclear program sanctions as an 'undeniable reality' and acknowledged that currency exchanges are 'still facing limitations.' According to the state news agency IRNA, on Saturday, July 16, the Iranian Foreign Ministry presented a 41-page report on the second quarterly implementation of the Vienna nuclear agreement to the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the Parliament. The ministry stated that 'currency transfers or exchanges are still facing limitations,' but 'overall, the Central Bank is currently able to manage its financial resources abroad.' The report highlighted the undeniable negative impact of sanctions and 'initial restrictions' imposed by the U.S. on Iran's economic exchanges with other countries. 'Initial sanctions' refer to those imposed after the Islamic Revolution and before the revelation of the Islamic Republic's nuclear program. The Iranian Foreign Ministry also noted that 'one of the current challenges' is the impact of unresolved sanctions, such as missile and human rights sanctions, on nuclear sanctions, and 'at least these impacts create psychological effects and confusion for economic entities.' The ministry indicated that despite the legality of providing U.S. dollar banknotes to the Iranian government, foreign banks 'refuse to transfer currency remittances in U.S. dollars for individuals and legal entities associated with the Islamic Republic of Iran.' The report also stated that legally 'all sanction documents,' including resolutions and laws through which nuclear-related sanctions were imposed, 'have been eliminated or amended.' The Iranian Foreign Ministry emphasized that 'meeting many expectations will require a longer time' and that returning to the pre-sanction status is 'like rebuilding the destruction of a ten-year war, which will certainly require time in technical and operational terms.' Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran's Foreign Minister, has repeatedly urged the U.S. in recent months to eliminate 'psychological barriers' regarding European banks' cooperation with Iran and to assure European banks that they will not be penalized for cooperating with Iran. The U.S. Secretary of State and his counterparts from Britain, Germany, and France, along with the EU's foreign policy chief, on May 20, issued a statement urging banks and traders not to overlook legal investment opportunities in Iran. These countries also expressed readiness to alleviate doubts in this regard. Iranian banks have been 'completely disconnected from the international financial system.' Some Iranian officials, including Abbas Araghchi, Deputy Foreign Minister, stated that besides European banks' concerns about sanctions, 'weak financial discipline' of Iranian banks has also 'not been ineffective' in the lack of cooperation from European banks, which the Central Bank is working to address. Meanwhile, the Iranian Foreign Ministry reported that Iranian banks have been 'completely disconnected from the international financial system' during ten years of sanctions and are unfamiliar with changes in banking, including anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing regulations. The report also outlined numerous benefits of lifting nuclear sanctions, including 'reopening the Central Bank's accounts abroad,' 'establishing 472 correspondent relationships with foreign banks,' 'establishing SWIFT connections,' 'settling oil claims,' and 'joint investment' between foreign and Iranian companies. Jack Lew, U.S. Treasury Secretary, mentioned a 'significant benefit' for Iran during the first anniversary of the Vienna nuclear agreement, including the opening of over 300 accounts in foreign banks worth billions. The Foreign Ministry's report also stated that some governments, entities, or foreign individuals have 'occasionally profited hundreds of billions of dollars' from the sanctions against Iran, and the exit of Iran's foreign reserves from these countries 'could even' put their reserves 'in crisis.' According to this report, these countries and their private and public banks 'are not immediately prepared to adapt to the new conditions after the JCPOA... especially to release Iran's financial resources.' The Iranian Foreign Ministry's report pointed to internal obstacles in implementing the Vienna nuclear agreement, stating that 'some brokers who have profited greatly from the sanctions' are 'taking every opportunity to undermine and destroy the post-JCPOA conditions by utilizing and even exacerbating internal political narratives.' Despite the official endorsement of the Vienna nuclear agreement by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, he and his close associates continue to criticize this agreement. However, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, head of the Expediency Discernment Council of Iran, has stated that a group in Iran is seeking to 'violate' the Vienna nuclear agreement. 'Additional access' to eight locations based on the Additional Protocol. The Iranian Foreign Ministry also reported to the Parliament that under the Additional Protocol regulations, 'additional access' for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to eight locations at nuclear sites (Isfahan, Tehran, and Natanz) has been provided. According to the report, 'with the provision of access to information through electronic equipment (without any online data transfer outside the facilities) and the designation of specific locations at the sites for inspectors, unnecessary movement of inspectors to other locations in the nuclear facilities has been reduced, and greater oversight over inspectors' activities is being implemented.' Iran has agreed to voluntarily implement the Additional Protocol to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) for eight years under the Vienna nuclear agreement, after which the Iranian government will submit a bill for the permanent implementation of this protocol to the Parliament. Under the Additional Protocol, the IAEA will have extraordinary access to Iran's nuclear facilities.