TEHRAN, Iran, Feb. 8
Trend:
The delegations of Iran and the P5+1 group (US, Russia, China, UK, France, and Germany) to the 2015 JCPOA nuclear deal have returned to Vienna to resume the talks, Trend reports citing IRIB.
Iran says the other parties have to make a political decision to resolve key remaining issues, including lifting sanctions.
“Lifting sanctions and benefiting from economic dividends of the deal is Iran's red line,” the Spokesman of Iran Foreign Ministry Saeed Khatibzadeh said during a press conference.
Foreign Ministry spokesman says that the framework of the agreement and its textual prospect are clear now.
The eighth round of the talks, which was paused for more than a week to allow delegations to head back to their capitals for political consultations, will resume on Tuesday in the Austrian capital, multiple sides have confirmed.
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.
As reported, 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.
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.