EU Ready to Resume Business with Iran on Jan 20
The EU will begin lifting sanctions against Iran on Monday, January 20, the minute it receives word that Tehran has begun implementing a deal to curb its nuclear program.
EU foreign ministers will announce the move in Brussels as soon as inspectors from the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, confirm that Iran has started work on a set of measures to reassure the international community over its nuclear drive, EU sources said Thursday.
The IAEA greenlight is expected in the morning and "a decision and regulation (on lifting the sanctions) will be published the same day."
Under a hard-won deal agreed between Iran and world powers in November, Tehran over the next six months will halt enrichment of uranium over five percent and dilute half of its stockpile of 20-percent enriched uranium in exchange for sanctions relief.
The agreement will see the U.S. unfreeze billions in Iranian assets while the EU notably suspends a 2012 ban on insuring and transporting Iranian crude oil that caused a more than 50 percent drop in Tehran's oil exports.
European insurers up until then had accounted for 90 percent of coverage for deliveries of Iranian oil anywhere in the world.
The EU also will suspend bans on trade in gold, precious metals and petrochemical products while increasing a ceiling on financial transfers not related to remaining sanctions.
Source: Agence France Presse
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