TEHRAN – According to a verdict issued by the General Court of the European Union, the Iranian Aluminum Company (Iralco) was removed from European Union (EU) sanctions list, the Tasnim News Agency quoted this from the public relations of the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO).

The EU, however, can appeal the judgment in less than 60 days from the issuing of the verdict.

Coming on the heels of the historic nuclear deal clinched between Iran and western powers, the verdict is a propitious sign of further bilateral cooperation to remove Iranian firms from sanctions list.

Countdowns to taking 15 Iranian firms active in mineral industries off sanctions list began in the wake of signing the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPA) on July 14 in Vienna. However, by now only Iralco has found its way out of the list.

Iralco managers had earlier alluded to the point, lending support to the claim that the issue has been long before a bone of contention between the two sides. The EU court had been scrutinizing the charges filed against Iralco from January (2015) to be rejected finally in favor of the company.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has named Iralco as supplying aluminum to Iran Centrifuge Technology Company (Tesa), which is part of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI). Aluminum oxide is an important material in gas centrifuges used to enrich uranium.

More Iranian companies, the expectation is that, are supposed to benefit from the sanctions relief brought about by the nuclear agreement between Iran and the so called 5+1 block in exchange for limits on the country’s nuclear program.

AK/