revistaieee7

Alfonso Iglesias Velasco and Anass Gouyez Ben Allal
The role of the United Nations...
do not set a precedent either for any other state or for the fundamental principles
of international law and the rights and obligations provided for under the Treaty on
the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT); this safeguard has also been proclaimed
by the Security Council. 83
To counterbalance this, the implementation of the JCPOA will result in the complete
lifting all sanctions imposed by the United Nations Security Council, 84 as well as
other multilateral and national sanctions imposed as a consequence of Iran’s nuclear
programme –including measures affecting access to trade, technology, financing and
energy-. 85 For this purpose, the Security Council requested that the IAEA verify the
measures adopted by Iran, that the Director General of this organisation inform the
Board of Governors and the Security Council of Iranian fulfilment of its commitments
and that the IAEA ultimately reach a conclusion as to whether all the nuclear
material present in Iran continues to be allocated to peaceful activities. 86 Yet, even if
that is the case, if a state that participates in the JCPOA notifies a material breach of
the commitments made under the agreement, the Security Council may approve a
resolution to revert back to the application of the previous sanction measures 87 .
All in all, it is worth once again asking if Iran really intended to possess nuclear
weapons and if it has truly been international pressure, symbolised in the enforcement
measures decided upon by the Council, which led to a negotiated solution being
achieved for the Iranian case. Admittedly, there was no proof of the military nature of
the country’s nuclear programme, meaning that is not clear if international pressure
surrounding Iran was the result of a suspected Iranian breach of the NPT, if its nuclear
development activities had themselves posed a threat to international peace and
security, or instead was aimed at safeguarding the geostrategic interests of the Western
powers, including Israel.
The Security Council vis-à-vis the nuclear powers which are not parties to
the NPT
It also falls to the Security Council to address the situation of those nuclear states
which have not acceded to the NPT, since the nuclear programmes of these states also
83 Ibidem, point xi; and Resolution 2231 (2015) of the Security Council, operative point 27.
84 Resolution 2231 (2015), operative paragraphs 7 and 8.
85 See sections 19-27 of the general provisions and the detailed Annex II of the JCPOA, with respect
to the measures that the European Union and its member states as well as the United States commit
to taking to lift sanctions against Iran.
86 Ibidem, operative paragraphs 4-6.
87 Ibid., operative paragraphs 11 and 12.
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