Russia, China, Iran urge West to restore nuclear deal with Tehran

Moscow, Beijing, and Tehran support the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and insist that its provisions are still in force, the countries said in a joint statement released as part of the agenda of the sixth meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors, Report informs referring to Mehr News Agency.

"Our countries have consistently provided strong support to the JCPOA... Our support for the nuclear deal has not changed since 2018, when the United States illegally and unilaterally withdrew from this agreement, while the imposition of unilateral illegal sanctions and the implementation of a policy of maximum pressure on Iran became a turning point for this agreement," the joint statement read, Sputnik reported.

It is high time for the West to show political will and take steps to restore the deal, the statement declared.

The JCPOA was signed in 2015 between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany. Former US President Donald Trump illegally pulled out of the deal in 2018 while the current US President, Joe Biden, has signaled that he is ready to resurrect the agreement.

Russia, the UK, Germany, China, the US, and France have been in talks with Iran since April 2021 to reinstate the deal.

The talks to salvage the JCPOA kicked off in the Austrian capital of Vienna in April 2021, with the intention of examining Washington’s seriousness in rejoining the deal and removing anti-Iran sanctions.

The negotiations have been at a standstill since August due to Washington’s insistence on its hard-nosed position of not removing all the sanctions that were slapped on the Islamic Republic by the previous US administration. Iran maintains it is necessary for the other side to offer some guarantees that it will remain committed to any agreement that is reached.