By Jubin Katiraie

These days the ‘snapback’ or as Iran’s state media calls it, the ‘Trigger Mechanism’, which will bring back all the UN sanctions imposed on the Iranian regime before the Iran nuclear agreement known as the JCPOA is a major subject. In fear of its consequences the Iranian media under the titles like, “cheating in the 90^th minute”, “Why should we not trust the agency?” and “This empty place should not be filled!” are showing their frustration on the US decision to activate the trigger mechanism.

State-run daily Vatan Emrooz wrote: “Are European countries looking to persuade Iran to stay in the nuclear deal if sanctions return? The Austrian capital Vienna will host a meeting of the Joint Commission of the JCPOA on Tuesday with the participation of Iran and the P5 + 1 (Germany, France, Russia, China, and the United Kingdom). It seems that the US action in activating the trigger mechanism against Iran is one of the agendas of this meeting.”

It added: “The meeting is being held under the influence of US action to launch a trigger mechanism against Iran. One of the topics of today’s meeting will be Iran’s possible action in the event of the return of Security Council sanctions against Iran.

“U.S. officials have stressed that, regardless of what other Security Council member states have in mind, referring to Article 12 of Security Council Resolution 2231, sanctions automatically return 30 days after the trigger mechanism is activated.”

The daily noted the useless suggestion of the European countries, not paying attention to the return of sanctions, and wrote: “The return of Security Council sanctions against Iran, even if European countries and other countries claim that they will be ignored, marks the official end of the JCPOA. The end of JCPOA for Iran means the beginning of the process of 20% enrichment and the abolition of the Agency’s unprecedented regulatory regime, which has been applied as a result of JCPOA’s agreement against Iran.

“Iran’s failure to react decisively to this US action will seriously damage the interests and reputation of the Islamic Republic. Iran has the experience of not reacting decisively to the other side’s bad covenant, and the unresponsively smoke of the Rouhani government has gone into the eyes of Iran’s national interests.

“At today’s meeting, Iran should explicitly state that if the trigger mechanism is activated, it will not only withdraw from the IAEA Board and no longer value the IAEA Board’s restrictions but will reconsider its obligations to allow the IAEA to inspect requested sites, in addition to perhaps leaving the NPT and terminating its cooperation with the Agency.”

Resalat daily wrote: “Although Rafael Grossi, Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), during his recent visit to Tehran has pledged not to make any request other than access to two locations considered by the IAEA (for the verification of Iran’s nuclear activities), the nature of the IAEA’s previous structure and operation does not leave much room for optimism in this regard for our country.

“On the other hand, ‘unlimited inspections of Iranian military sites’ is one of the common demands of Trump and European actors, and even the Democrats intend to pursue this unattainable and ominous demand through Grossi and other IAEA leaders if they win the election.”

The state-run newspaper evaluated Grossi’s visit to Tehran in line with US goals and wrote: “We have to accept that Rafael Grossi plays the role of a ‘catalyst’ or accelerator on this path (in favor of American goals). Basically, Grossi’s most important commitment to Trump and Netanyahu is to strengthen the ‘strategy of maximum pressure against Iran’ through seemingly legal channels.”

Vatan Emrooz, quoting Assadollah Ramezanzadeh, wrote: “Claim studies”, “Rely on forged documents”, “Illegal pressures”, “Adoption of the resolution in the Board of Governors”, “Threats to send Iran’s case to the Security Council”, this was an important empty place that we should not have filled!”

“Those who have embraced this agreement today, after proving and witnessing the damage that JCPOA inflicted on the country, are well aware that due to the capacity that JCPOA has created for the other side (Iran’s enemies), sending this case from the IAEA to the Security Council would be tantamount to re-imposing multilateral sanctions on Iran.”

Read More:

Iran: “We Are Worried That the Case Will Go to the Security Council”