ROME, October 31. /TASS/. Russia fully supports the idea of returning to the Iran nuclear deal in the form it was signed, without any additions or exemptions, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Rome on Sunday.

"If the sides are intensifying contacts, they apparently want to come to resuming the deal. It may be resumed solely in the form it was approved by the UN Security Council in 2015," Russia’s top diplomat said.

"Any additions and any exemptions are unacceptable for the Iranian side. And we fully support this approach," Lavrov said.

"If the sides agreed on something and if someone subsequently backtracked on the deal, it is necessary to seek returning to its full respect and observance," Lavrov stressed.

The leaders of the European troika (France, Germany and Great Britain) and the United States earlier held negotiations on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Rome to discuss the Iran nuclear deal.

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) was signed between Iran, the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (Russia, the United Kingdom, China, the United States and France) and Germany in 2015. The deal was aimed at overcoming the crisis regarding Tehran’s nuclear program.

In 2018, then-US President Donald Trump announced Washington’s withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal. After that, the United States unleashed a campaign to exert maximum pressure on Tehran, which was actually aimed at strangling Iran’s economy. Incumbent US President Joe Biden has numerously signaled his readiness to bring the US back to the Iran nuclear deal.

The Five Plus One Group (Russia, Great Britain, Germany, China, the United States and France) has been holding negotiations with Iran on restarting the Iran nuclear deal in its original form since April in Vienna. By now, six rounds of such meetings have been held.