Islam Times - Putin Expresses Hope for Full Restoration of JCPOA

Islam Times - Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed hope on Friday for the full restoration of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

The president invited permanent members of the Russian Security Council to discuss the situation in the Caspian Region and noted that Iran is one of Russia's neighbors in the Caspian Five, Sputnik reported.

"Many issues related to the Iran nuclear programme are currently being addressed. I hope that everything related to the JCPOA will be restored within the previous framework and we will be ready to develop full-fledged relations with all the members of the Caspian club and to fully implement our plans," Putin told the security council.

Tehran is engaged in Vienna talks with the remaining participants in the Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA) namely China, Russia, and the three major European countries of Britain, Germany and France in a bid to revive the nuclear deal. The United States is not present as Iran has refused to directly talk with the new US administration that still continues illegal Trump-era sanctions against the Iranian nation.

Despite early promises during his presidential campaign, US President Joe Biden has not returned his country to the deal so far. By doing so, the Biden administration is following in the Trump administration's footsteps and continues to stick to the illegal sanctions on Iran in violation of the nuclear deal. Washington has set illegitimate preconditions for returning to the JCPOA which are strongly rejected by Iran.

After the US exit from the world powers' nuclear deal with Iran in May 2018 and imposing the unprecedented sanctions on the Iranian nation which was followed by the indifference of the European parties to the need for compensating Iran's losses as a result of the US violations of the international accord, Iran started reducing its JCPOA commitments in five steps and finally suspended voluntary implementation of the Additional Protocol on February 22. Tehran recently started 60% enrichment after an "act of sabotage" done reportedly carried out by the Israeli regime on one of its nuclear sites in Natanz. The JCPOA Paragraph 36 allows Iran to diminish its abidance in the case of violations of the deal by other parties.

Iran has vowed that it will change course and will return immediately to its JCPOA commitments as soon as other parties, most notably the Europeans, abide by the provisions of the accord.