US Officials: Iran Complying Too Fast With Nuclear Deal

West Had Expected to Drag Out Implementation Process

While everyone expected Iran to move quickly on implementing the P5+1 nuclear deal, US officials are alarmed at the alacrity of their compliance, saying they have “unreasonable expectations” that the West will implement their own side of the deal in a timely fashion.

US and European Union nations are all taking their first legal action toward sanctions relief today, calling it “adoption day” for the pact, though they likewise warn that actual sanctions relief isn’t going to be coming for months, at best.

Though on the one hand officials suggested two months as a timetable for implementation, they also said the Rouhani government’s desire to see the deal in force before the February election was “wildly optimistic,” and suggested that it would be six more months, at the earliest, before the US would follow through on the relief.

The overall attitude from US officials, and that some are already accusing Iran of “cutting corner” by moving so quickly, suggests that Western nations, and the US in particular, were expecting to be able to drag out their end of the bargain on the P5+1 nuclear deal.

That may not be realistic, however, as Iran seems to be quickly implementing the pact, and some of the EU nations, particularly Germany, have substantial business deals on the line with Iran, which would be threatened if they drag out implementation.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.