Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Thursday that Washington should effectively demonstrate its intention to alter its sanctions policy towards Tehran in order to resurrect the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on the nuclear program.
“The utmost must be done so that the negotiations ensure the restoration of what’s known as the ‘factory settings’ of the JCPOA,” Ryabkov said.
“Political will is now required. From the US side, it is important to prove and demonstrate in practice that the sanctions policy which has been carried out over the recent years is being reviewed and the Iranian side is given the opportunity to reap those economic advantages that are included in the package of agreements that lies at the heart of the JCPOA,” Tass reported, citing the Russian diplomat.
The Russian deputy foreign minister also stressed that sides should return to the implementation of the agreements on the Iranian nuclear deal in its original form. In order to accomplish this, it is important to continue negotiations “on the basis of the progress achieved by June 20” in Vienna, when the parties suspended consultations.
“There is a solid base there, and there are reasonable solutions to a number of essential aspects. But, of course, not everything was agreed on back then,” Ryabkov explained.
The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) was signed between Iran, the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (Russia, the United Kingdom, China, the United States and France) and Germany in 2015.
Former US president Donald Trump nixed the JCPOA in May 2018 and re-imposed the anti-Iran sanctions that the deal had lifted. He also placed additional sanctions on Iran under other pretexts not related to the nuclear case as part of his “maximum pressure” campaign.
Incumbent US President Joe Biden has repeatedly made it clear that Washington was ready to return to the JCPOA, but has so far not shown any sign of returning to the original deal.
Following a year of strategic patience, Iran resorted to its legal rights stipulated in Article 26 of the JCPOA, which grants a party the right to suspend its contractual commitments in case of non-compliance by other signatories and let go of some of the restrictions imposed on its nuclear energy program, Press TV reported.
Talks involving Iran and the P5+1 (Russia, the United Kingdom, Germany, China, France and the US) on restoring the nuclear deal in its original form have been underway in Vienna since April. So far, six rounds of consultations have taken place, the next round is set to begin on November 29.
Source: Agencies
