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The Future of the Iran Deal from the International Law Perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2022

Pouria Askary
Pouria Askary*
Affiliation:
Associate Professor, Allameh Tabataba'i University (ATU).
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Extract

The Iranian nuclear program was launched before the Islamic Revolution in the 1950s with the help of the United States, under the agreement known as the Cooperation Concerning Civil Uses of Atoms. In 1958, immediately after the establishment of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iran gained its membership and signed the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) on its adoption date, July 1, 1968. Two years after, the NPT was approved by the Iranian Parliament and since then, Iran remains a party to this treaty. In Article IV, the NPT endorses the inalienable right of all the Parties to the Treaty to develop research, production, and use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes without discrimination.

Type
Global Engagement Series - Reconceiving America's Global Role in the Biden Era: International Perspectives in Asia
Information
Proceedings of the ASIL Annual Meeting , Volume 115 , 2021 , pp. 320 - 323
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The American Society of International Law.

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References

26 Agreement for Co-operation Concerning Civil Uses of Atomic Energy (Mar. 5, 1957), available at https://ahlambauer.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/19570305_iran-usa_nuclear-co-operation.pdf.

27 See the statement of the IAEA director general, Mohamed ElBaradei, on his visit to these sites: Introductory Statement to the Board of Governors (Mar. 17, 2003), at https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/statements/introductory-statement-board-governors-46.

28 Daniel H. Joyner, Iran's Nuclear Program and International Law, 2 Penn. St. J. L. & Int'l Aff. 237, 282 (2013).

29 In 2012, alongside the negotiations on Iran's nuclear program, special media attention was paid to a Fatwa (religious decree) issued by the Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, banning all weapons of mass destruction (WMD), in particular, nuclear weapons. See Farhad Shahabi Sirjani, Iran's Nuclear Fatwa, 4 Iranian Rev. For. Aff. 57 (2013).

30 UN SC Res. 1696 (July 31, 2006) (adopted by the vote of 14–1, Qatar, at the 5,500th meeting).

31 These resolutions are: UN SC Res. 1737 (Dec. 23, 2006) (adopted at the 5,612th meeting; UN SC Res. 1724 (Mar. 24, 2007) (adopted at the 5,647th meeting); UN SC Res. 1803 (Mar. 3, 2008) (adopted at the 5,848th meeting); UN SC Res. 1835 (Sept. 27, 2008) (adopted at the 5,984th meeting); and UN SC Res. 1929 (June 9, 2010) (adopted at the 6,335th meeting). For further discussion on these resolutions see, Joseph Klingler, Iran, Nuclear Weapons, and International Law: What Might the Final Agreement Add?, 19 ASIL Insights (June 19, 2015), at http://www.asil.org/insights/volume/19/issue/14/iran-nuclear-weapons-and-international-law-what-might-final-agreement.

32 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, July 14, 2015 (effective Oct. 18, 2015), available at http://www.eeas.europa.eu/archives/docs/statements-eeas/docs/iran_agreement/iran_joint-comprehensive-plan-of-action_en.pdf [hereinafter JCPOA].

33 UN SC Res. 2231 (July 20, 2015) (adopted at the 7,488th meeting).

34 U.S. Dep't of Treasury Press Release, U.S. Government Fully Re-imposes Sanctions on the Iranian Regime as Part of Unprecedented U.S. Economic Pressure Campaign (Nov. 5, 2018), at https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm541.

35 Alleged Violations of the 1955 Treaty of Amity, Economic Relations, and Consular Rights (Iran v. U.S.), Application Instituting Proceedings (Int'l Ct. Just., July 16, 2018).

36 Letter Dated 18 February 2021 from the Chargé d'affaires a.i. of the United States Mission to the United Nations Addressed to the President of the Security Council, S/2021/158.

37 Kristen E. Eichensehr, Contemporary Practice of the United States, 115 AJIL 140 (2021).

38 Iran Nuclear Deal: US Joins Vienna Talks Aimed at Reviving Accord, BBC (Apr. 6, 2021), at https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-56643178.

39 Maximum Pressure on Iran has Failed, N.Y. Times (Apr. 10, 2021), at https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/10/opinion/sunday/iran-nuclear-deal-sanctions.html.

40 Alleged Violations of the 1955 Treaty of Amity, Economic Relations, and Consular Rights (Iran v. U.S.), Order, 2018 ICJ Rep. 623, para. 102 (Oct. 3).

41 See for example: A/RES/72/168 (Jan. 25, 2018).

42 OHCHR Press Release, Iran Sanctions Are Unjust and Harmful, Says UN Expert Warning Against Generalised Economic War (Aug. 22, 2018), at https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=23469&LangID=E.

43 Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Negative Impact of Unilateral Coercive Measures on the Enjoyment of Human Rights, para. 103 (July 21, 2021), at https://undocs.org/en/A/HRC/45/7.

44 JCPOA, supra note 7, para. 36.