MOSCOW, July 9. /TASS/. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov met on Tuesday with British, French and German diplomats, urging their countries to boost teamwork to save the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on Iran’s nuclear program, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
Taking part in the meeting were British Ambassador in Russia Laurie Bristow, French Ambassador Sylvie Bermann and Charge d’Affaires ad Interim of the German Embassy in Russia, Beate Crzeski.
The diplomats discussed the situation around the JCPOA, also in the light of an emergency session of the IAEA Board of Governors scheduled for July 10.
"The Russian side confirmed that it is necessary to bolster joint efforts of all participants in the JCPOA, including Iran and the EU trio countries in favor of saving the agreements and ensuring their full implementation on the basis of abidance by their commitments by all the involved parties and with due regard for the principle of reciprocity on which the Plan of Action was based initially," the ministry said.
"It was noted that the main challenges preventing an efficient implementation of the JCPOA are systemic violations and subversive actions from the US," the ministry noted.
The International Atomic Energy Agency’s Board of Governors will convene a special session on July 10 to discuss the situation around the Iran nuclear dossier. The request for holding the session came from the US permanent mission at international organizations in Vienna, which believes that the international community should bring the Iranian authorities to account after their steps to depart from the nuclear deal.
Iran nuclear deal
In 2015, Iran and six major powers (five member states of the United Nations Security Council - Russia, the United States, France, the United Kingdom and China - and Germany) agreed on the final Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which particularly stipulated the removal of sanctions imposed on Tehran over its nuclear program.
The deal limited Tehran’s nuclear development work in exchange for lifting the UN sanctions and unilateral US and EU restrictions. Iran undertook not to enrich uranium above 3.67% within 15 years and keep the stocks of enriched uranium at the level of no more 300 kg. Iran also assumed commitments not to build additional heavy water reactors, not to accumulate heavy water and not to engage in developing nuclear charges.
On May 8, 2018, US President Donald Trump announced Washington’s withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal. He said that old sanctions on Iran would be restored and new ones would be introduced in case Tehran attempted to pursue its nuclear ambitions.
On May 8, 2019, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani announced that Tehran was reducing its commitments under the JCPOA. He pointed out that the other signatories, primarily EU countries, had failed to fulfill their economic obligations under the deal, making it irrelevant. Rouhani said they had two months to return to compliance. The deadline expired on July 7.