BAKU, Azerbaijan, February 17. Iran is engaged in continuous consultations with Russia regarding its nuclear program, said the spokesperson for Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Esmail Baghaei, Trend reports.
Addressing a press conference in Tehran, Baghaei asserted that Russia, as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, is closely monitoring Iran's nuclear issue.
The spokesperson added that in the context of Russia-US discussions over Iran's nuclear program, Iran is closely following the issue and will participate in consultations with Russia on the matter.
On January 16, 2016, the JCPOA came into force between Iran and the P5+1 group (US, Russia, China, the UK, France, and Germany) regarding Iran’s nuclear program. However, on May 8, 2018, the US withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) between Iran and the 5+1 group (Russia, China, the UK, France, the US, and Germany) and imposed new sanctions on Iran starting from November 2018.
By the end of 2020, the Iranian parliament decided to pursue a strategic plan in the nuclear sector to counter the sanctions, leading to a suspension of additional steps and the Additional Protocol as per the nuclear agreement.
Consequently, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) faced a reduction in monitoring capabilities by 20–30 percent.
Iran has officially affirmed that its strategy is not to pursue the development of an atomic bomb and that it does not support the production of weapons of mass destruction.
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