UN applauds 'historic' deal on Iranian nuclear programme

Source:UN News. 14 July 2015 – The United Nations has welcomed the agreement reached between international negotiators and the Government of Iran as the two parties pave the way for a viable solution on the Gulf country's nuclear programme and towards possible peace in the region.

Describing the deal between Tehran and the so-called 'E3+3' as “historic” in a statementearlier this morning, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon applauded all parties for their resolution of the long-standing diplomatic negotiations as “a testament to the value of dialogue.”

“I know that an immense amount of work went into this and I admire the determination and the commitment of the negotiators as well as the courage of the leaders who approved the deal that was so painstakingly worked out by their teams in Vienna and elsewhere,” Mr. Ban declared from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where he is currently attending the UN's Third International Conference on Financing for Development.

“I hope, and indeed believe, that this agreement will lead to greater mutual understanding and cooperation on the many serious security challenges in the Middle East.

“I hope, and indeed believe, that this agreement will lead to greater mutual understanding and cooperation on the many serious security challenges in the Middle East.”

In addition, the Secretary-General lauded both the 'E3+3' – composed of China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States and more commonly labelled as the 'P5+1' – and Iran for their “vital contribution” in laying the foundation towards a more peaceful and stable future for both the region and the world.

The UN, he concluded, would stand ready “to fully cooperate” with the parties as they proceeded in the implementation of the “historic and important agreement.”

Representatives of the P5+1 and the Islamic Republic of Iran at the historic nuclear agreement sealed in Vienna. Credit: UNIS Vienna

In a similarly toned statement issued in Vienna, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General, Yukiya Amano, also congratulated Iran and the 'E3+3' for having reached a positive conclusion to their “many months of tireless negotiations.”

As a result of the agreement, the IAEA will now be asked to monitor and verify the nuclear-related measures set out by all parties as part of the UN agency's ongoing verification process of the Iranian nuclear programme.

Among the additional measures the agency has adopted in partnership with Iran and in light of today's agreement is a 'Road-map for the Clarification of Past & Present Outstanding Issues regarding Iran's Nuclear Programme' which, the Director-General said, would help the IAEA establish “an understanding of the whole picture” concerning Iran's nuclear issues.

The newly created Road-map would require Iran to provide written explanations to the IAEA by 15 August regarding a number of outstanding issues that have yet to be resolved.

“I am confident in our ability to do this important work,” Mr. Amano confirmed. “The IAEA stands ready to undertake the necessary monitoring and verification activities when requested.”

Against that backdrop, the new UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and international sanctions, Idriss Jazairy, celebrated the deal as the beginning of the end of the strict sanction regime to which Iran has been bound for years – sanctions which also included a number of “additional, unilateral coercive measures decided by a number of States individually or in the framework of various regional organizations.”

“The stockpiling of sanctions and unilateral coercive measures against Iran, some of which went well beyond what was required by the Security Council, has had a significant adverse effect on the country's economy, its population and ultimately on the enjoyment of human rights of the people of Iran, including its right to food, its right to health and its right to development,” the independent expert declared in a press release.

In particular, Mr. Jazairy pointed the “indiscriminate character” of measures such as the ban on the use of international interbank financial telecommunications or of measures which ultimately impeded access to medicine and medical treatment.

“When a group of diverse targeted unilateral coercive measures converge on the same country, the outcome may become a comprehensive coercive measure,” he concluded, adding that he hoped nuclear agreement was “a vessel of a trend” of things to come. “We are witnesses of the fact that change is possible.”