Islam Times - Russia Never Stood in Way of Return to JCPOA: Envoy

Islam Times - Russia has never obstructed and does not intend to obstruct the restoration of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on Iran’s nuclear program, Russia’s Permanent Representative to International Organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov wrote on Twitter on Monday.

“Russia never was and will not be an obstacle on the way towards restoration of the JCPOA,” the envoy tweeted.

Earlier, Ulyanov said that the text of the document on Iran’s nuclear deal had been practically fully coordinated. Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on Monday that Tehran will give a written response to EU’s chief negotiator Enrique Mora on the European side’s proposals by midnight (22:30 Moscow time).

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) was signed between Iran, the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (Russia, the United Kingdom, China, the United States and France) and Germany in 2015. The deal was aimed at overcoming the crisis regarding Tehran’s nuclear program.

In 2018, then-US President Donald Trump announced Washington’s withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal. After that, the United States unleashed a campaign to exert maximum pressure on Tehran, which was actually aimed at strangling Iran’s economy. Incumbent US President Joe Biden has repeatedly signaled his readiness to bring the US back to the Iran nuclear deal.

The Five Plus One Group (Russia, Great Britain, Germany, China, the United States and France) has been holding negotiations with Iran on restarting the Iran nuclear deal in its original form since April last year in Vienna.