Iran's Senior Diplomat to Visit France on Monday for Talks on Saving Nuclear Deal - Tehran

TEHRAN (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st September, 2019) Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, accompanied by economic experts, will visit France on Monday to discuss ways of preserving the Iran nuclear deal, the chief of staff of the Iranian president said on Sunday.

"The delegation led by Deputy Foreign Minister Araghchi will go to Paris," Mahmoud Vaezi said, as quoted by the IRNA news agency.

He added that the delegation would include economic experts.

The news comes a day after Iranian President Hassan Rouhani held phone talks with French leader Emmanuel Macron, a staunch advocate of saving the Iran nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Macron earlier stressed the need to soften the effect of US sanctions on Tehran or create a compensation system to improve the living conditions of Iranians.

Rouhani welcomed Paris' diplomatic efforts, but warned that Tehran would launch the third stage in reducing its obligations under the nuclear deal later in September as scheduled if Europe failed to live up to its part of commitments. He, however, noted that this step just as the previous ones would be reversible.

On the first anniversary of the US unilateral pullout from the 2015 Iran unclear deal on May 8, Tehran announced that it would start abandoning some parts of its nuclear obligations every 60 days unless European signatories to the deal ensured Iran's interests under the agreement amid Washington's reinstated sanctions.