Russia committed to making all efforts to restore stalled Iran nuclear deal: Dy FM Ryabkov

In his recent remarks, Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov stated on Thursday that his country is committed to making all efforts to restore the stalled Iran nuclear deal. "Russia is determined and firmly committed to doing its part of the process of implementing the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) after it gets restored to its initial parameters," he told the TASS news agency. Ryabkov further stressed that Kremlin will definitely adhere to some of the JCPOA's requirements. 

In late June, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also visited Iran to discuss bilateral ties and approaches to break the stalemate in the Iran nuclear talks. The United States and its western allies have imposed stringent sanctions on both Iran and Russia, which have limited their ability to export their energy to outside markets. Notably, in 2015, Iran and global powers reached an agreement on the nuclear deal, in which Tehran committed to significantly lower its uranium enrichment in exchange for the removal of economic sanctions. However, in 2018, then-US President Donald Trump abruptly withdrew from the agreement, prompting a series of attacks and incidents across the Middle East.

What is the JCPOA nuclear deal?

The JCPOA deal on the Iranian nuclear program reached Vienna on 14 July 2015, between Iran and the P5+1 together with the European Union. The P5+1 refers to the UN Security Council's five permanent members -- China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States; as well as Germany. The JCPOA is an agreement that enables world powers to have core access to Iranian nuclear establishments for inspection purposes in exchange for sanctions relief. 

Talks to revive deal stalled since June 2021

However, the talks on restoring the deal and bringing Iran back into compliance have been stalled since June 2021 after Tel Aviv has incrementally violated the terms of the agreement and widened the cap on its stockpile of uranium and increased activities above 3.67% allowed under JCPOA, House of Commons, UK had said in a statement. Earlier on June 25, European Union (EU) foreign policy chief Josep Borrell also visited Iran in an attempt to revive the stalled nuclear talks. 

Image: AP