MOSCOW, September 8. /TASS/. Russian and French Presidents, Vladimir Putin and Emmanuel Macron, called for pooling efforts of all the parties concerned to keep the Iran nuclear deal in place, the Kremlin press service said on Sunday after their telephone conversation.

"The sides discussed in detail the situation around the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on the Iranian nuclear program. Vladimir Putin and Emmanuel Macron spoke for consolidation of efforts of all the parties concerned to save the JCPOA and observe it in full. They also exchanged information about Russia’s and France’s steps on that track," the Kremlin said.

The JCPOA, also known as the Iran nuclear deal, was signed between Iran and six international mediators (the United Kingdom, Germany, China, Russia, the United States, and France) in July 2015. Under the deal, Iran undertook 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.

Iran pledged not to enrich uranium above the level of 3.67% for 15 years and maintain enriched uranium stockpiles at the level not exceeding 300 kg, as well as not to build new heavy-water reactors, not to accumulate heavy water and not to develop nuclear explosive devices.

The situation around the deal exacerbated after Washington unilaterally withdrew from the JCPOA on May 8, 2018 and slapped US economic sanctions on Iran’s oil exports. Exactly one year after that, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that Teheran was scaling back some of its commitments under the JCPOA and called on other signatories to the deal to comply with the conditions of the agreement within two months (till July 8).

On July 7, Teheran proceeded to the second stage of scaling down its commitments and announced it had exceeded the 3.67%-level of uranium enrichment. More to it, it promised to keep on reducing its commitment every 60 days if other participants in the deal were not committed to the deal. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed on July 1 and 8 that Iran had exceeded the 300 kg limit set for its stockpiles of low enriched uranium and had exceeded the 3.67% enrichment threshold.

The third stage came on September 6 when Teheran rejected restrictions on research activities.