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16.01.2020 14 BUSINESS Britain, France, and Germany trigger dispute mechanism to confront Iran THE UK, France, and Germany have officially triggered the dispute mecha- nism in the Iran nuclear deal while re- jecting US President Donald Trump's "maximum pressure" sanctions on the country. e three countries negotiated the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Ac- tion with Iran alongside the US, China, and Russia. e JCPOA was designed to stop Iran from producing its own nuclear weap- ons, and it set up a framework limiting the quantity and degree to which Iran was allowed to enrich uranium. e three countries' decision comes in response to Iran's May announcement that it would stop meeting some of its commitments under the deal and full withdrawal from it earlier this month. European countries have attempted multiple times to salvage the deal, but Iran has refused to return to the agree- ment. "We have therefore been left with no choice, given Iran's actions, but to reg- ister today our concerns that Iran is not meeting its commitments under the JCPOA and to refer this matter to the Joint Commission under the Dispute Resolution Mechanism, as set out in paragraph 36 of the JCPoA," the three countries said in a statement Tuesday. Here's how the dispute mechanism works after it is triggered, according to the nuclear deal: 1. e Joint Commission — made up of negotiators from the signatory countries — has 15 days of resolve the issue. 2. If this fails after 15 days, any par- ticipant can refer the issue to the countries' ministers of foreign af- fairs. e ministers then have an- other 15 days to discuss and find a resolution. 3. If the issue isn't resolved after those 30 days, it will be elevated to the JCPOA Advisory Board, which has five days to negotiate. 4. If it still isn't resolved, then the complaining signatory country can treat the issue as "grounds to cease performing its commit- ments under this JCPOA in whole or in part," and/or refer it to the UN Security Council. e US, Russia, China, Britain, and France sit on that council. 5. e UN Security Council would then have 30 days to find a resolu- tion to continue with sanctions re- lief on Iran, which was enshrined in the JCPOA. 6. If no resolution is adopted, then all previous sanctions on Iran would be reimposed. is is also called a "snapback." Iran's withdrawal from the deal largely came in response to Trump's decision to pull the US out of the nuclear deal in May 2018 and to impose punitive "max- imum pressure" sanctions that have crippled the Iranian economy. Trump had hoped his maximum-pres- sure economic strategy would force Iran's leaders to comply with the US's demands about its behavior, but it has largely emboldened the government against the US. Britain, France, and Germany ap- peared to rebuke the strategy by stress- ing that they wouldn't impose maxi- mum pressure on Iran. ey said on Tuesday, regarding the dispute-mechanism trigger: "We do this in good faith with the overarch- ing objective of preserving the JCPOA and in the sincere hope of finding a way forward to resolve the impasse through constructive diplomatic dialogue, while preserving the agreement and remain- ing within its framework." ey added: "In doing so, our three countries are not joining a campaign to implement maximum pressure against Iran. Our hope is to bring Iran back into full compliance with its commitments under the JCPOA." UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told the House of Commons on Tues- day: "We are triggering the DRM to reinforce the diplomatic track, not to abandon it." "e government in Iran has a choice," he said. "e regime can take the steps to de-escalate tensions and adhere to the basic rules of international law, or sink deeper and deeper into political and economic isolation." "So too, Iran's response to the DRM will be a crucial test of its intentions and goodwill. We urge Iran to work with us to save the deal." e European statement came hours after UK Prime Minister Boris John- son reiterated calls to curb Iran's nucle- ar limits, but called for a new "Trump deal" if the JCPOA no longer worked. Negotiators from Iran and Europe at a meeting of the JCPOA Joint Commission in Vienna in June

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