Lavrov Says Russia Made Proposals To Ensure JCPOA Participants Resume Cooperation

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th August, 2020) Moscow has made proposals to help the Iranian nuclear deal signatories resume cooperation and break the deadlock the agreement has been in since the US withdrawal, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday after talks with his German counterpart, Heiko Maas.

"Among other topics on which Russia and Germany are actively cooperating, I will highlight the situation around the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action to settle the issue of the Iranian nuclear program. There is a number of ideas put forward by our European colleagues. Russia, in turn, made some proposals that, in our opinion, would help to resume cooperation of all JCPOA signatories without exception," Lavrov said.

In July 2015, Iran signed a nuclear agreement with China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany and the European Union. The JCPOA stipulates that Iran must scale back its nuclear program and downgrade its uranium reserves in exchange for sanctions relief, including the lifting of the UN arms embargo five years after the accord was adopted.

The agreement has been in crisis since May 2018, when the US unilaterally withdrew from it and reintroduced sanctions on Tehran. Nevertheless, during the last visit of Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to Russia last month, Lavrov said that chances keep the deal in force still remained.