Recently, a debate in Iranian political circles broke out on the issue of the publishing of an official response to the U.S. fact sheet, released April 2, 2015, following the Lausanne talks. Officials from Iran's ideological camp are demanding that an Iranian fact sheet be published; however, this demand is puzzling, in view of the fact that an Iranian fact sheet was already published, also on April 2, by the Iranian news agency Fars, and attributed to the Iranian Foreign Ministry. It should be noted that Fars published the fact sheet in Persian only, not in English.
More puzzling still is the fact that the Foreign Ministry itself is not referring at all to the fact sheet published by Fars and attributed to it.[1]
The following is the content of the Iranian fact sheet published April 2, 2015 (all emphases are in the original):
"Fars report from Lausanne: Iran and the six countries have, after nine days of consultations on the nuclear issue, reached a package of solutions in order to arrive at a comprehensive joint plan of action.[2]
"Based on the text that the Iranian Foreign Ministry released to the media, Iran and the P5+1 that are mentioned in the November 24, 2014 Joint Plan of Action, and following lengthy negotiations on technical, legal, and political aspects, have in Lausanne reached a package of solutions for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
"The comprehensive package of solutions has no legal validity, and provides only an interpretive guide for organizing and writing the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. On this basis, the drafting of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action based on decisions of these solutions will begin in the near future.
"In the framework of the solutions, none of the nuclear-related facilities and operations will be halted, stopped, or suspended, and Iran's nuclear activities at all of its nuclear facilities, including Natanz, Fordo, Isfahan, and Arak, will continue.
"These comprehensive solutions guarantee the continuation of the [uranium] enrichment program within the country, and based on this, Iran will be able, according to the text of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, to continue its industrial production of nuclear fuel in order to assure fuel for its nuclear facilities.
"According to the solutions presented, the time period of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action regarding Iran's enrichment program will be 10 years. During this period, over 5,000 centrifuges at Natanz will continue to produce material enriched to a level of 3.67%. Centrifuges in addition to this number and the infrastructures related to them will be used to replace centrifuges damaged during this period, and will be collected and will be under IAEA oversight. Likewise, Iran will be able to allocate its stockpile of enriched material to the production of a nuclear fuel complex and/or [will be able] to export it to international markets in exchange for purchasing uranium.
"Based on the solution that Iran has presented, [Iran] will continue its research and development program for advanced centrifuges, and will continue the stages of initiating and completing the process of research and development of IR-4, IR-6, IR-5, and IR-8 generation centrifuges, during the 10-year period of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
"Fordo Facilities
"Based on the presented solutions, the Fordo facilities will be changed [such that they be transformed into] a center for nuclear research and advanced physics. Over 1,000 centrifuges and their infrastructure will be preserved and maintained at Fordo, such that two cascades of centrifuges [164 centrifuges per cascade] will be spinning. Likewise, in cooperation with some of the P5+1 countries, at half of the Fordo facilities, advanced research and the production of stable isotopes that have an important use in industry, agriculture, and medicine will be conducted.
"Arak Heavy Water Research Reactor
"In accordance with the existing solutions, the Arak heavy water research reactor will remain and will be redesigned, updated, and advanced. In the redesign of the reactor, the level of plutonium production will be decreased, [but] the efficiency of the Arak reactor will be increased significantly. The redesign of the Arak reactor will be undertaken within a designated period of time and in the form of a joint international project under Iranian direction, and immediately afterwards its construction will begin, and will be completed in the framework of a set timeframe. The production of fuel for the Arak reactor and the granting of international authorization for nuclear fuel production at the reactor, are among the issues [that will be undertaken with] international cooperation. On the other hand, the factory for the production of heavy water will continue to function as in the past.
"'The Additional Protocol'
"Iran will implement the Additional Protocol transparently and as a confidence-building [measure], voluntarily and on a temporary basis. Later on in the process, it will approve the Protocol, according to a [specified] timetable, in the framework of the authority of the president and of the Majlis.
"The Removal of Sanctions
"Based on the presented solutions, after the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, all of the UN Security Council resolutions will be revoked forthwith, as will all of the multilateral economic and financial sanctions of the EU and the unilateral ones of the U.S. including financial, banking, insurance, investment, and all related services in various areas, including sanctions in the oil, gas, petrochemical, and automobile industries. Likewise, there will be an immediate and multilateral lifting of the nuclear-related sanctions against actual and legal individuals, against institutions, and against government and private organizations - including the Central Bank, other financial and banking institutions, SWIFT, Iran's shipping and aviation industries, [and] oil tanker companies. Also, the countries that are members of the (5+1) group undertake to refuse to impose new nuclear-related sanctions.
"International Cooperation
"International nuclear cooperation between Iran and all P5+1 members will be made possible and will be advanced in the fields of constructing nuclear power plants, research reactors, nuclear fusion, stable isotopes, nuclear safety, nuclear medicine, nuclear agriculture, and so on. According to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, Iran will also be provided with access to the global market, in the trade, finance, technical knowledge and energy sectors.
"Timeframe For Implementing The Comprehensive Joint Plan of Action
"At the end of this stage of the talks, the drafting of the Comprehensive Joint Plan of Action will begin in the near future, by July 1 [2015]. With the finalization of the text, the Comprehensive Joint Plan of Action will be brought to the UN Security Council for passage as a resolution. For the Comprehensive Joint Plan of Action to be binding and executable for all UN member states, this resolution will be adopted under Article 41 of Chapter Seven of the UN Charter like the previous [Security Council] resolutions against Iran, so that these previous resolutions can be annulled.
"The parties to the Comprehensive Joint Plan of Action will need a preparatory phase after the U.N. Security Council resolution is adopted, in order to carry out the Comprehensive Joint Plan of Action. Following the preparatory phase, all the sanctions will be annulled in one day, which will be determined at the same time as Iran begins to implement the nuclear steps.
"In the framework of the presented solutions: In the event of violations of commitments on the part of any of the parties, the [setting of] the means necessary to allow the mutual retraction of the aforementioned obligations in the Comprehensive Joint Plan of Action should be expected.
"There has already been a new round of nuclear talks, on the evening of Wednesday, March 25, 2015 in Lausanne, Switzerland."
[1] In an April 26, 2015 Iranian television interview, Iranian Atomic Energy Organization (IAEO) head and Iranian negotiating team member Ali Akbar Salehi said about the U.S. fact sheet: "The issue of the sanctions should be clarified too, particularly after the Americans' publication of their fact sheet ... The Americans have mixed correct and mistaken [points] in the fact sheet of the negotiations at Lausanne in order to justify themselves to the[ir] opponents in American public opinion, and created a conceptual distortion [in public opinion]... The Americans have a media empire, and they can shape public opinion as they wish, but they cannot obscure the truth... We expected that in their fact sheet the Americans would note more correct points and fewer mistaken points, so that it would not lead to mistaken interpretation and conclusions. Taking note of the general atmosphere in Iran, we prepared a fact sheet, but a two-hour Iranian television interview with Foreign Minister [Zarif, in which he] raised all the issues, and my interview with Iranian television, led to the fact sheet not being published, and these same statements [in the interviews] have become the fact sheet..." Irinn.ir, Iran, April 26, 2015.
[2] Farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=13940113000355, last accessed April 25, 2015.
