A picture taken on January 27, 2011 shows an Iranian worker riding a bicycle through the Nouri Petrochemical facilities of the South Pars gas field in the southern port of Assaluyeh
BRUSSELS: The European Union will begin lifting sanctions against Iran on Monday, the minute it receives word that Tehran has begun implementing a deal to curb its nuclear programme.
EU foreign ministers will announce the move in Brussels as soon as inspectors from the UN’s nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, confirms that Iran has started work on measures to reassure the international community over its nuclear drive, EU sources said yesterday.
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 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 US 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.
AFP
