Russia is making efforts to revive the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with Iran’s participation. This was announced on Friday, April 30, to Izvestia at the RF Permanent Mission to international organizations in Vienna.
“Russia is making efforts to restore the nuclear deal with the participation of Iran and the five plus,” the source said.
The 5 + 1 group includes five permanent members of the UN Security Council (Russia, USA, UK, France and China), as well as Germany.
Earlier that day, Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed the hope that all aspects of the JCPOA on the Iranian nuclear deal would be restored in full.
In April, in Vienna, Austria, for several weeks, regular meetings of the nuclear deal commission, as well as informal meetings of the parties in various formats, are held.
On April 20, the head of EU diplomacy, Josep Borrell, noted the important progress in the implementation of the JCPOA achieved during the negotiations. In turn, a senior State Department official said that the United States during the Vienna talks handed over to Iran a list of sanctions measures that the United States is ready to withdraw in order to return Tehran to comply with the provisions of the JCPOA.
On April 22, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, noted the intention of the United States and Iran to return the JCPOA to its original parameters.
Russia’s Permanent Representative to International Organizations in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, said that the members of the commission on the implementation of the JCPOA had decided to speed up the process of its full restoration.
On April 28, the Associated Press, citing former and current US officials, reported that the administration of US President Joe Biden is considering waiving some of the toughest sanctions on Iran in order for the country to return to the JCPOA.
The JCPOA was signed in 2015 and assumed the lifting of sanctions on Iran in exchange for restrictions on the country’s nuclear program. In May 2018, the US government decided to withdraw from the deal and tighten sanctions pressure on Tehran. In 2019, Iran announced a gradual reduction in its obligations, which were provided for by the agreement.