MOSCOW, November 28. /TASS/. States members of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) support the international effort to preserve the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on Iran’s nuclear program and will render efficient assistance to it, CSTO foreign ministers said in a joint statement on Wednesday.

"[The ministers] favor its further step-by-step implementation on the basis of commitment by all parties involved to the obligations they had undertaken and on the condition that the carefully calibrated balance of interests, which forms the basis of the comprehensive agreements, is observed," reads the document, posted on the Russian Foreign Ministry’s official website.

The ministers also "support the efforts aimed at de-escalation around JCPOA and express firm resolution to render efficient assistance to them in line with UN Security Council Resolution 2231."

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (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.

The future of the Iranian nuclear deal was called in question after the United States’ unilateral pullout on May 8, 2018 and Washington’s unilateral oil export sanctions against Tehran. Iran argues that all other participants, Europeans in the first place, ignore some of their own obligations in the economic sphere, thus making the deal in its current shape senseless.

On November 6, Iran has started the process of injecting gas into centrifuges at its underground Fordow facility, which de-facto meant the start of the fourth stage of Iran’s reduction of its nuclear commitments.

Persian Gulf security concept 

CSTO ministers also noted the huge potential of Russia’s proposed concept of collective Persian Gulf securty.

In the statement, published by the Russian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday, the ministers expressed their concern by the current situation in the Persian Gulf which is "prone to a large-scale military conflict entailing most negative consequences for all countries involved, as well as for regional and international security."

"The ministers note the significant positive potential of Russia’s Concept of ensuring collective security in the Persian Gulf zone," the statement says. "[The ministers] call upon all sides to show restraint and take measures to defuse tensions and restore trust."

On July 23, the Russian Foreign Ministry revealed its concept of collective security in the Persian Gulf region. The concept includes forming an initiative group to organize an international conference on security and cooperation in the Persian Gulf area, which would lead to the establishment of an organization for security and cooperation in the region. Besides, Moscow offered to establish demilitarized zones in the region, abandon permanent deployment of military from non-regional states and establish military hotlines.

Situation in Syria

The foreign ministers of states members of the post-Soviet security bloc also said in a joint statement they were concerned by the remaining hotbeds of tension in Syria.

"The ministers express concern in connection with the preservation of hotbeds of tension in Syria and keep following the developments closely. [They] note that achieving long-term stability in the Syrian Arab Republic, including in the northeast of the country, is possible only on the basis of respect and full restoration of sovereignty and territorial integrity of the state, ensuring the security of the civilian population which comprises various ethnic and confessional communities," the ministers said in a statement on efforts to stabilize the situation in Middle East and North Africa, published by the Russian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday.

The ministers also said that anti-terrorism efforts in the country must continue until the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusrah (both outlawed in Russia) and other terrorist groups are completely wiped out.

The SCTO top diplomats also welcomed the launch of the Constitutional Committee of Syria, describing it as an "important milestone in the cause of promoting the political process, led and carried out by Syrians themselves."

A joint meeting of the CSTO Councils of Foreign and Defense Ministers and the CSTO Committee of Secretaries of Security Councils was held in Kyrgyzstan’s capital Bishkek on Wednesday.