SAEDNEWS: Mohammad Javad Zarif’s recent remarks about the role of a European individual and a member of his own team in inserting the word "suspension" instead of "lifting" sanctions in the JCPOA surprised observers.
According to Saed News, Kayhan newspaper wrote in its special news column: Zarif recently said that on the last day of the JCPOA negotiations, at the request of a person named Francesco, who was a financial employee of the European Union, some changes were made to the JCPOA annex, but they did not have time to inform me! He said that Francesco argued if the text used the word "lift" for EU resolutions, then on the day the JCPOA came into effect, they would be forced to reimpose non-nuclear sanctions, which would look bad.
Therefore, on the last day when all of us were busy with many tasks and several texts had to be written, in three or four places, the word "suspension" was inserted based on the suggestion of the EU financial expert (a gentleman named Francesco, if I’m not mistaken, with an Italian surname — I don’t remember exactly, a strange kind of surname). This was told to a good colleague of mine, who is a very prominent manager, and he gave his approval, saying it was acceptable(!). Neither I nor Dr. Araghchi or Dr. Ravanchi were informed. This happened after we had read and approved the texts. I read the JCPOA text but later did not read any additional texts added afterwards!
Strangely, Zarif insists on keeping the name of the person from his negotiating team who collaborated with the European side to replace the word "lift" with "suspension" secret and unpublished!
It should be noted that Zarif had previously claimed during the approval and implementation of the JCPOA that the word "suspension" does not appear anywhere in the agreement and that the word "lift" was included, but after the fact, he admitted: "I told the parliament that the word ‘suspension’ is not in the JCPOA; that was my mistake. Of course, this doesn’t mean I didn’t read the JCPOA; the reality is that we instructed those negotiating the annexes not to use certain terms. However, in the final moments when one of the JCPOA annexes was being negotiated, the European representative said that they lift and cancel Iran’s sanctions, but the decisions of the EU—which include other matters—cannot be ‘lifted.’ The word ‘suspend’ was used three or four times in the annex. Our negotiator, who was reviewing these details and who added it at the last moment, did not inform us.”
A few weeks ago, Zarif also admitted at the Europe and America Studies meeting that expecting Europe to launch INSTEX was a mistake. The INSTEX financial package was a deceptive operation arranged by the European Troika after the official US withdrawal and sanctions reinstatement, aimed at keeping Iran unilaterally committed to JCPOA obligations while the European side itself refused to fulfill its commitments!
Instead of committing to lift sanctions after the US exit, the Europeans promised to establish the SPV financial channel and then INSTEX, fooling Iran for more than two and a half years. According to the SPV promise, Europe would buy oil from Iran and sell food and medicine in return, but this promise was not fulfilled. Then Europe promised that by launching INSTEX, it could receive money from Iran’s oil sales to third parties and in exchange sell food and medicine, but this humiliating and deceitful promise also failed. The Rouhani government was deceived by the European Troika until mid-2020 when parliament passed the reciprocal action law.
Another of Mr. Zarif’s JCPOA feats was claiming in parliament that sanctions would be lifted by the JCPOA, while experts like Dr. Jalili argued that given the nature of sanctions in the US legislative system, sanctions would not be lifted.
He also said: “I assure you the US cannot withdraw from the JCPOA. All sanctions will be lifted on the day the JCPOA comes into effect. All Security Council and IAEA resolutions will be lifted. The snapback mechanism does not exist in the JCPOA.” But after sanctions were not lifted, Zarif claimed: “The JCPOA’s goal was not economic!”
Zarif also stated: “There is no such thing as snapback (automatic reinstatement of sanctions if a Western JCPOA party complains and the complaint is not resolved) in the JCPOA,” but years later admitted: “The activation of snapback by the US [which withdrew from the JCPOA] is illegal” (meaning the snapback mechanism does exist in the JCPOA!). Later, Mr. Araghchi said: “Regarding the snapback mechanism, we hope European countries do not make this mistake. It would be a wrong policy and add to existing crises. If the snapback mechanism is activated, our response will be harsh.”
It is worth noting that Zarif’s strange remarks about Francesco’s role in changing the JCPOA content have sparked much criticism on social media, including:
He has embroiled the country in snapback, destroyed the nuclear deal, brought war, and now blames a Francesco for changing the JCPOA without informing him! Hidden cameras or comedy show? Anyone else would have been prosecuted and punished a hundred times over!
Zarif admits that a person named Francesco changed the JCPOA at the last moment without informing him, and he did not even read what was added later! Even sheep stomachs are not traded like this, yet “Amir Kabir of the reformists”(!?) traded the fate and assets of a nation!
Zarif’s remarks are a clear insult, first to the then-president!
Oh, treacherous Francesco! Why did you fool our diplomacy hero?
How can a foreign minister sign such a sensitive contemporary historical agreement without reading the final document?! The first person who should respond explicitly to these shameful remarks by Zarif is Mr. Rouhani, because trust in a minister who signs such an important contract without reading it is questionable.
What Zarif casually describes is not a memory, but the document of a diplomatic crime! First, who is this very capable expert Zarif speaks of? Second, why did he not inform Zarif or the negotiating team about such an important change?
It is clearer than ever now how much incompetence and sabotage are hidden behind the smiles of this so-called diplomacy claimant!
