WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th July, 2022) The administration of US President Joe Biden wants to revive the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which it sees as by far the most successful effort to prevent Tehran from getting nuclear weapons, Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Bonnie Jenkins said on Tuesday.
"The Biden administration is seeking the return to full implementation of the JCPOA. we continue to work on the effort and see it as the most successful achievement of (preventing) Iran to have a nuclear weapon," she told reporters at a briefing.
Jenkins is currently in Brussels for meetings with her NATO and EU counterparts to discuss a range of issues, including Russia, Iran and China.
The JCPOA deal was sealed in 2015 by China, France, Germany, Iran, Russia, the United Kingdom and the US, as well as the European Union. It imposed restrictions on the advancement of the Iranian nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions.
In 2018, then-US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the JCPOA and reimposed sanctions on Iran. Tehran responded with a gradual retreat from its own JCPOA obligations, abandoning restrictions on nuclear research, centrifuges and the level of uranium enrichment.
After the change of administration in the US, Washington and Tehran launched talks to try revive the deal. After a round of indirect talks in Qatar earlier in July, US Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley said that Iran has added new demands unrelated to the original nuclear deal. Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said last week�that Tehran is ready to negotiate a strong and durable nuclear deal based on mutual interests of all parties concerned rather than what he describes as the US' "mutually exclusive," unilateral demands.
