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This is a profound success if fully implemented — one that both avoids war with Iran and, with sanctions relief, boosts international trade as Iran gradually reintegrates into world markets.
The United States dismantled nuclear-related economic sanctions, starting with secondary sanctions against foreign entities that trade, bank, insure or provide other services to Iran. Under the JCPOA, countries are now permitted to engage in trade with Iran in previously prohibited energy, shipbuilding, auto, and financial-services sectors.
Successfully managing the sanctions aspects of the JCPOA requires sustained political commitment and finesse on the part of the U. The economic relief promised Iran in exchange for its nuclear restraint is the lynchpin of this agreement. One potential challenge to JCPOA implementation comes from the lesser-known economic sanctions at the state government level. The Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University is tracking the promulgation, implementation and expiration of these state sanctions, through the Iran Implementation Project.
There are currently four types of state-level sanctions: Thirty-two states and the District of Columbia have some form of Iran measures on the books, but with varying levels of implementation and impact. California law prohibits state pension funds from investing in companies that do energy or defense business in Iran.
CRS Report for Congress. Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress. State and Local Economic Sanctions: Constitutional Issues. This report considers the Constitutionality of states and localities enacting their own sanctions on foreign countries, particularly Iran and Sudan.
The practical significance of this is considerable: Our research tracks these state-level statutes to see if, when and how these sanctions may end. A number of states have sunset provisions for the expiration of sanctions pegged to federal government action e.
Sanctions at the state level may well hinder U. In the past, the U. Dozens of state and local Iran divestment laws remain on the books.
If a law at the state or local level in the United States is preventing the implementation of the sanctions lifting as specified in this JCPOA, the United States will take appropriate steps, taking into account all available authorities, with a view to achieving such implementation.
The United States will actively encourage officials at the state or local level to take into account the changes in the U. As Eli Lake reported last week, the State Department has now begun to take such steps.
Every other governor apparently received a similar letter. Then, in the final paragraph, Mull states:. Some states have adopted laws designed to incentivize Iran to change its behavior in certain ways. It may also be the case that the sanctions lifting in the JCPOA affects how your state agencies implement such state laws.
For example, I understand that some states prohibit contracting with companies that engage in transactions with Iranian entities that are designated as a sanctioned entity by the Department of the Treasury. If that is the case in your state, I would urge you to review the relevant sanctions lists, as there have been significant changes and a number of Iranian individuals and entities have been removed as a result of the JCPOA.
In light of the U. Clearly any state or local sanction related to Iran that meets the specific criteria of Section i. The proper question is thus: Yet we doubt Garamendi compels preemption. The Foundation agreement was a pure Executive agreement binding under international law that fell within a long tradition of Executive branch settlement of claims with preemptive effect.
The essence of the deal is that Iran would eliminate its non-peaceful nuclear development activities in exchange for the lifting relevant UN Security Council sanctions, as well as relevant multilateral and national sanctions. At first the embargo applied only to arms sales, however it later expanded to include other imports, extending to almost all trade on February 7, When a woman alleges sexual assault, presume she is telling the truth. If that is the case in your state, I would urge you to review the relevant sanctions lists, as there have been significant changes and a number of Iranian individuals and entities have been removed as a result of the JCPOA. In —, Arab nations imposed an oil embargo against the United States and other industrialized nations which supported Israel in the Yom Kippur War of October
By contrast, JCPOA is a political commitment that does not bind the United States under international law and that does not concern a topic traditionally capable of binding unilateral executive branch settlement. Such pure executive agreements are limited to a relatively few discrete subject matter areas like core military affairs in addition to the settlement of claims.
Extending preemptive force to presidential policies in political commitments means unmooring presidential preemption from topics traditionally subject to pure executive agreement and thus potentially extending presidential preemption to any topic. For these reasons any attempted preemption of state laws due to the presidential policies embodied in the JCPOA would involve a large extension of Garamendi.
There the President argued that Garamendi supported a Presidential Memorandum that sought to implement an ICJ decision in a manner that would preempt state law. The Court rejected the argument.