Iran: Vienna Text Not an ‘Agreement, or Treaty’

IRNA, the Iranian state news agency, quotes Ali-Akbar Salehi, Head Nuclear Negotiator and Head of the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization (AEOI), as stating that “The [Vienna JCPOA] text is not regarded as an international agreement, convention, or treaty. Therefore, it has been named the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).”

 

Salehi made the statement in the context of whether the JCPOA had to be referred to the Iranian parliament – or Majlis – for approval.

 

Salehi also reportedly asserted that “to his knowledge, only international conventions and treaties had to be referred to the Iranian parliament for approval,” and therefore, the government did not have to send the JCPOA for approval to the Iranian Parliament.

 

IRNA added that according to Salehi, “the term Comprehensive Joint Plan of Action contains itself, it is not an international convention or pact so he could not see why it should be referred to [the Iranian] parliament.”

 

Salehi’s assertion that the JCPOA is not an “international agreement, convention, or treaty” jibes with the JCPOA document itself, which states that the entire document is “voluntary” on all the parties.

 

The quotes by the lead Iranian negotiator raises the question of what exactly the JCPOA is, and whether the unsigned JCPOA obligates Iran or any of the P5+1 countries to do anything.

 

Read More: Iran: Vienna Text Not an ‘Agreement, or Treaty’ – Middle East – News – Arutz Sheva