THE UNITED STATES UNILATERAL WITHDRAWAL FROM THE RESTRICTIONS OF IRAN’S NUCLEAR PROGRAM IN JCPOA 2015 UNDER INTERNATIONAL LAW

Main Article Content

Christopher Valerio Jovan

Abstract

Abstract


In 2015, Iran with the P5 + 1 countries (China, France, Germany, Russia, Britain and the United States, as well as the European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy) agreed on a JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) which deals with Iran's nuclear program. The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action 2015 (JCPOA) is a controversial agreement. First, the JCPOA's status in international law is debated and is not considered as an international treaty. In the midst of the uncertainty over the status of the JCPOA, on May 8 2018, the United States unilaterally declared that it was withdrawing from the JCPOA. Even though the JCPOA has been endorsed by UN Security Council Resolution 2231 (2015). Thus, other JCPOA participating countries view the withdrawal of the United States as an act that is against international law. This article aims to determine whether the JCPOA is an international treaty and whether the withdrawal of the United States from the JCPOA is justified under international law.


Keywords: JCPOA, UN Security Council Resolution, Withdrawal


 


Abstrak


Pada tahun 2015, Iran dengan negara-negara P5+1 (China, Prancis, Jerman, Rusia, Inggris dan Amerika Serikat, serta Perwakilan Tinggi Uni Eropa untuk Urusan Luar Negeri dan Kebijakan Keamanan) menyepakati JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) mengenai pembatasan program nuklir Iran. Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action 2015 (JCPOA) merupakan perjanjian yang mengundang kontroversi. Pertama, status JCPOA mendapat perdebatan karena dianggap bukan perjanjian internasional. Kemudian pada 8 Mei 2018, Amerika Serikat secara sepihak menyatakan menarik diri dari JCPOA. Padahal JCPOA telah dimasukkan ke dalam Resolusi Dewan Keamanan PBB 2231 (2015). Sehingga peserta JCPOA lainnya menganggap tindakan Amerika Serikat sebagai perbuatan yang bertentangan dengan hukum internasional. Artikel ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui apakah JCPOA merupakan suatu perjanjian internasional dan apakah penarikan diri Amerika Serikat dari JCPOA dapat dibenarkan berdasarkan hukum internasional.


Kata kunci: JCPOA, Penarikan Diri, Resolusi Dewan Keamanan PBB

Article Details

How to Cite
Valerio Jovan, C. (2021). THE UNITED STATES UNILATERAL WITHDRAWAL FROM THE RESTRICTIONS OF IRAN’S NUCLEAR PROGRAM IN JCPOA 2015 UNDER INTERNATIONAL LAW. Padjadjaran Journal of International Law, 4(2), 247-264. https://doi.org/10.23920/pjil.v4i2.414
Section
Articles

References

Books
Aust, Anthony, Modern Treaty Law and Practice, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2007.
Bailliet, Cecilia and Larsen, Kjetil Mujezinović, Promoting Peace through International Law, Oxford Press, Oxford, 2015.
Boyle, Alan and Christin, Chinkin, The Making of International Law, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2007.
James Crawford (et.al), The International Legal Order: Current Needs and Possible Response, Koninklijke Brill, Leiden, 2017.
Olsson, Ilhami Alkan, Four Competing Approaches to International Soft Law, Stockholm Institute for Scandinavian Law, Stockholm, 2013.
Shaw, Malcolm, International Law, Sixth Edition, Cambridge University Press, New York, 2008.
Schenker, Claude, Practice Guide to International Treaties, Directorate of International Law DIL, Swiss, 2015.

Other Documents
Aust, Anthony, “The Theory and Practice of Informal International Instruments”, ICLQ, Vol. 35, No. 4, 1986.
Bellinger, John, 2015, “The New UNSCR on Iran: Does it Bind the United States (and future Presidents)”, https://www.lawfareblog.com/new-unscr-iran-does-it-bind-united-states-and-future-presidents.
Berger, Andrea, 2015, “Explaining UN 'Snapback' in the Iran Deal”, https://rusi.org/commentary/explaining-un-snapback-iran-deal-0.
European Union, 2018, “Remarks by HR/VP Mogherini on the statement by US President Trump regarding the Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA)”, https://eeas.europa.eu/headquarters/headquarters-homepage/44238/remarks-high-representativevice-president-federica-mogherini-statement-us-president-trump_en.
Federal Foreign Office, 2019, “E3- / EU-Statement on JCPOA“, https://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/en/newsroom/news/e3-eu-statement-on-jcpoa/2215416.
Galbraith, Jean, “Contemporary Practice of the United States Relating to International Law“, The American Journal of International Law, Vol. 112, No. 3, 2018.
Gini, Mojtaba Mireh and Maryam Sedaghat , “A Review of Inconvertibility of Iran Nuclear Deal into an International Treaty”, Budapest International Research in Exact Sciences (BirEx) Journal, Vol 1 No. 2, 2019.
GOV.UK, 2018, “Joint statement from Prime Minister May, Chancellor Merkel and President Macron following President Trump’s statement on Iran”, https://www.gov.uk/government/news/joint-statement-from-prime-minister-may-chancellor-merkel-and-president-macron-following-president-trumps-statement-on-iran.
Hosseinnejad, Katayoun, 2018, “The International Community and the Challenge to the Rule of Law: The Future of Iran Nuclear Deal”, http://opiniojuris.org/2018/05/21/the-international-community-and-the-challenge-to-the-rule-of-law-the-future-of-iran-nuclear-deal/.
Kerr, Paul K. and Kenneth Katzman, 2018, “Iran Nuclear Agreement and U.S. Exit”, https://fas.org/sgp/crs/nuke/R43333.pdf.
Latham dan Watkins, 2018, “Top 10 Things to Know About Expanded US Sanctions on Iran“,https://www.lw.com/thoughtLeadership/lw-top-10-things-to-know-expanded-us-sanctions-iran.
Letter dated 8 May 2020 from the Permanent Representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General, A/74/850–S/2020/380, available at https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/3863953.
Letter from Julia Frifield, Assistant Secretary for Legislative Affairs to Mike Pompeo, U.S. Representative, U.S. Congress, 2015, available at http://www.humanrightsvoices.org/assets/attachments/documents/11.24.2015.state.dept.letter.jcpoa.pdf.
Mardani, Nader and Mohammad Mehdi Hooshmand, “JCPOA; A Dialectical Paradigm of Treaty and other International Instruments”, Journal of Politics and Law, Vol. 9, No. 3, 2016.
Pace University, 2018, "Newsweek Featured Dyson Professor Matthew Bolton in Did Trump Break the Law? U.S. Leaves Iran Deal, Violates World Order and Risks War, Experts Say”, https://www.pace.edu/news-release-topics/matthew-bolton.
Passblue, 2020, “The United States Has an Explicit Right to Initiate Snapback under United Nations Security Council Resolution 2231”, https://www.passblue.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/LEGAL-BRIEF-The-United-States-Has-an-Explicit-Right-to-Initiate-Snapback-under-UNSCR-2231__233144249.pdf.
Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nation, 2020, “Statement by Vassily Nebenzia, Permanent Representative of Russia to the UN, at an open VTC of UNSC members under agenda item Non-Proliferation”,https://russiaun.ru/en/news/nonproliferation_300620.
Ramsey, Michael D., “Evading the Treaty Power? The Constitutionality of Non Binding Agreements”, FIU Law Review, Vol. 11, No. 2, 2016.
Shaffer, Gregory C. and Mark A. Pollack, “Hard Versus Soft Law in International Security”, Boston College Law Review, Vol. 52, No. 4, 2011.
Talmon, Stefan, 2020, “Germany Finally Comes Clean about The Legal Status of The JCPOA: No More Than Soft Law”, https://gpil.jura.uni-bonn.de/2020/03/germany-finally-comes-clean-about-the-legal-status-of-the-jcpoa-no-more-than-soft-law/.
The White House, 2018, “President Donald J. Trump is Ending United States Participation in an Unacceptable Iran Deal”, https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/president-donald-j-trump-ending-united-states-participation-unacceptable-iran-deal/.
United Nations, “Fifth Report of the Secretary-General on the implementation of Security Council resolution 2231”, https://www.undocs.org/S/2018/602
_____, “Seventh Report of the Secretary-General on the implementation of Security Council resolution 2231 (2015)”, http://undocs.org/S/2019/492.
U.S Department of State, 2018, “After the Deal: A New Iran Strategy”, https://www.state.gov/after-the-deal-a-new-iran-strategy/.
_____, 2020, “Press Briefing with Brian Hook, Special Representative for Iran and Senior Advisor to the Secretary of State”, https://www.state.gov/press-briefing-with-brian-hook-special-representative-for-iran-and-senior-advisor-to-the-secretary-of-state/.
_____, 2020, “Secretary Michael R. Pompeo At a Press Availability”, https://www.state.gov/secretary-michael-r-pompeo-at-a-press-availability-11/.
White House, 2018, “Ceasing U.S. Participation in the JCPOA and Taking Additional Action to Counter Iran’s Malign Influence and Deny Iran All Paths to a Nuclear Weapon”, https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/ceasing-u-s-participation-jcpoa-taking-additional-action-counter-irans-malign-influence-deny-iran-paths-nuclear-weapon/.
_____, 2018, “Remarks by President Trump on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action”, https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-jointcomprehensive-plan-action/.
Wood, Michael C., “The Interpretation of Security Council Resolutions”, Max Planck Yearbook of United Nations Law Online, Volume 2, Issue 1, Jan 1998.

Legal Documents
Agreed Framework Of 21 October 1994 Between The United States of America and The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, 1994.
Decision on the Defence Motion for Interlocutory Appeal on Jurisdiction (Prosecutor v. Dusko Tadic a/k/a "Dule"), ICTY Appeals Chamber Decisions, [1995].
Fifth Report of the Secretary-General on the implementation of Security Council resolution 2231.
International Court of Justice, Accordance with International Law of the Unilateral Declaration of Independence in Respect of Kosovo, Advisory Opinion of 22 July 2010.
Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, 1970.
UN Security Council Resolution 1737, 2006.
UN Security Council Resolution 2231, 2015.
Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, 1969.