Will US’s efforts to trigger the snapback mechanism against Iran be successful? If US President Donald Trump tore up the JCPOA over two years ago, his latest resolution against Iran was literally trashed.
In answer, the US threatened to trigger the snapback mechanism. But the US is no longer a part of the JCPOA. So how can it trigger a mechanism foreseen by the JCPOA? Here's how the snapback mechanism, or dispute resolution mechanism rather, can be triggered.
Under that provision of the deal, if Iran is caught cheating, any of the signatories can unilaterally reimpose sanctions. Iran did not cheat. It did not sneak around with its nuclear program, and it did not hinder inspections. It was in fact in full compliance with the deal as certified by the UN nuclear watchdog the IAEA 15 times.
By paragraph 36 of the deal, should a party find other parties were not meeting their commitments, it would have grounds to cease performing its commitments, after consultations.
And Iran did try for a whole year to get European signatories to fulfill their commitments in overcoming US secondary sanctions and conducting trade with Iran.
It was only after they could not perform, that Iran restarted its nuclear program, or rather started stepping back from its nuclear commitments in reversible stages.
So the US wants to punish Iran for taking a defensive measure allowed by the deal.
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