MOSCOW, January 10. /TASS/. Russia will stand up for viability of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on Iran’s nuclear program, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at his meeting with Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif on Wednesday.
"It is important to share views on how Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) is being implemented," Lavrov said. "We note IAEA Director General’s clearly-defined statement that Iran meets its commitments in full."
"We will advocate for viability of this deal and its most significant contribution to regional stability and to solving the issue of nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction," he underlined.
The deal on Iran’s nuclear program was reached between Iran and six international mediators (the United Kingdom, Germany, China, Russia, the United States, and France) on July 14, 2015. Under the deal, Iran undertakes to curb its nuclear activities and place them under total control of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in exchange of abandonment of the sanctions imposed previously by the United Nations Security Council, the European Union and the United States over its nuclear program.
After Tehran had implemented its part of the deal, which was confirmed during IAEA’s inspection trips, on January 16, 2016 the US administration under President Barack Obama lifted sanctions imposed on Iran over its nuclear program. Nevertheless, many other restrictions, for instance over Iranian ballistic missiles, remained in place. On October 13, 2017, current US President Donald Trump refused to confirm Iran was implementing the nuclear deal.