BAKU, Azerbaijan, Apr. 13
By Elnur Baghishov – Trend:
The cooperation between Iran and Russia will definitely be very effective for the restoration and activation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said, Trend reports citing the Iranian President Office’s official website.
He made the remark in a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
The president noted that Iran wants the commitments and agreements to be returned to the situation in 2015, and all sides of the nuclear deal (JCPOA) should fulfill all their obligations.
During the meeting, Sergey Lavrov also said that Iran and Russia have a common and close goal in regional and international cooperation.
Commenting on the recent Vienna discussions, Lavrov said that the US interests in returning to the nuclear deal. According to Moscow, the only way to resolve the nuclear issue is for the US to return to the unconditional nuclear deal and implement UN Security Council Resolution 2231.
"According to Russia, it would be completely useless to ask Iran to accept new terms under the nuclear deal. Any additional document on various issues, such as Iran's regional issues or military development, can be researched outside the nuclear deal with the participation of region countries to ensure the security of the region and the Persian Gulf," the Russian FM said.
In late 2020, the Iranian parliament has decided to implement a strategic plan to tackle the sanctions, citing the non-implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) signed between Iran and six countries and the imposition of sanctions on Iran.
According to the decision of the Iranian parliament, as of February 23, Iran suspended the implementation of additional steps and an additional protocol provided for in the nuclear deal.
In January 2016, JCPOA was launched between Iran and the P5+1 group (US, Russia, China, UK, France, and Germany) in connection with Iran's nuclear program. In May 2018, the US announced its withdrawal from the deal and imposed sanctions on Iran in November of the same year.
To preserve the agreements reached as part of the JCPOA, the European signatories of the deal started in January 2019 that a financial mechanism for maintaining trade with Iran called INSTEX was formed.
On May 8, 2019, Iran announced that it had ceased fulfilling its commitments regarding the sale of over 300 kilograms of uranium, as stated in the deal, basing its decision on the other signatories that have not fulfilled their obligations. On July 7, Iran announced that it will not be fulfilling its commitments regarding the enrichment of uranium at 3.67 percent and the reconstruction of the Arak Heavy Water Reactor Facility as stated in the deal.
Iran announced that it will enrich uranium using next-generation centrifuges and will not mix it with the enriched uranium residues as part of the third step of reducing commitments in JCPOA on Sept.5.
On Nov. 5, 2019, Iran announced that it took the fourth step in connection with reducing its commitments to the nuclear agreement. So, uranium gas is being pumped to the centrifuges at the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant.
On Jan.2020, Iran took the last fifth step in reducing the number of its commitments within JCPOA.
The US imposed new sanctions on Iran in November 2018. Over the past period, the sanctions affected Iranian oil exports, more than 700 banks, companies, and individuals.