Since an interim agreement was signed between the E3+3 (France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, and China, Russia, and the United States, also known as the P5+1) and Iran in November, European companies have demonstrated their interest in re-entering the Iranian market. Under the Joint Plan of Action (JPA), in return for Iran's commitment to limit the most sensitive parts of its nuclear activities, the E3+3 granted Tehran some "limited, targeted, and reversible" sanctions relief. Since then, many European companies, particularly those that operated in Iran before the sanction regime, have visited Tehran. The initial activism of European firms has been seen by some as a sign that these concessions to Iran undermined the leverage of the E3+3 in talks with Tehran.

This policy memo argues, however, that the JPA has not so far translated into new openings for economic relations between Iran and the EU countries, nor did it cause the collapse of the international sanctions regime against Iran. It argues that the real concern is that the EU's failure to practically implement part of the limited sanctions relief included in the JPA package could undermine Iran's confidence in the ability of the E3+3 to deliver in light of a comprehensive agreement. This could in turn make it harder for the Rouhani administration to constructively pursue talks with the E3+3.

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See full text at the European Council on Foreign Relations: The EU's Sanctions Regime Against Iran in the Aftermath of the JPA