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US impeding implementation of Iran nuclear deal: Academic

Sunday, 17 April 2016 4:58 AM [ Last Update: Sunday, 17 April 2016 4:57 AM ]

American, European and Iranian officials hold nuclear talks during a plenary session at the United Nations building in Vienna, Austria, July 14, 2015. ©AFP

Press TV has conducted an interview with Mohammad Marandi, a professor at the University of Tehran, and Jim Walsh with Security Studies Program at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) from Boston, to comment on the US unfulfilled promises to Iran under last year’s nuclear deal.

Marandi says senior officials in the US Treasury Department continue to threaten banks against transactions with Iran in an attempt to slow down the process of lifting anti-Iran sanctions as part of last July’s nuclear accord, dubbed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

The United States is trying to give its own interpretation of the JCPOA, which is different from the readings of Europeans, Russia and China.

The professor also says the European banks and investors are very much interested in doing business with Iran, but the Washington is trying to impede their access to the Iranian market by disrupting the removal of restrictive measures.

Marandi further criticized the baseless hue and cry by the American administration and the media hype over Iran’s recent missile tests and said even the EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini rejected Washington’s claims.

He was referring to Mogherini’s comments during her Saturday visit to the Iranian capital Tehran, where she emphasized that Iran’s missile tests did not violate the JCPOA.

Marandi added that the US remains “unreliable” even after the signing of the nuclear agreement, adding that such an approach will hurt them because “the Iranians are becoming more skeptical about the Americans.”

Walsh, for his part, says American authorities do not intend to hamper the removal of anti-Iran bans, but the “sanctions relief is complex and difficult” because it depends on private actors.

He adds that “the US cannot order the European banks to do business with Iran” and “unfortunately bankers and lawyers are very conservative” and do not take risks easily.

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