The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) lays out a new international entity and a set of procedures for states to make proliferation-sensitive sales to Iran via a Procurement Channel. This channel is one of the most complex provisions in the JCPOA, and it will need to function effectively for the first ten years of the agreement. Many aspects of the Procurement Channel were left unsettled during the negotiations. During the next several months, the E3+3 will need to establish a range of capabilities and procedures to implement this channel.

The creation of this channel, which is described in only general terms in the JCPOA, is supported by newly passed United Nations Security Council resolution 2231 which endorses the JCPOA overall and makes the provisions legally binding and overseen by the Security Council.  At Implementation Day, Resolution 2231 will terminate all prior UN Security Council resolutions relating to the Iranian nuclear issue.

The purpose of the Procurement Channel is to regulate the flow of goods to Iran’s authorized nuclear programs and non-nuclear civil end users. It also seeks to deny Iran opportunities, or at least help expose any efforts, to violate the JCPOA. This new type of transparency can facilitate the detection of unauthorized Iranian procurements of proliferation-sensitive goods from abroad. These goods could be used in secret nuclear programs or in other ways inconsistent with the JCPOA. The channel can moreover limit Iran’s ability to stockpile goods that it could use to rapidly expand, or surge, its nuclear capabilities if it reneged on the JCPOA or otherwise ended it.

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Read full report at the Institute for Science and International Security: Preliminary Assessment of the JCPOA Procurement Channel: Preliminary Assessment of the JCPOA Procurement Channel