MOSCOW, June 2. /TASS/. Foreign Ministers Sergey Lavrov of Russia and Hossein Amir Abdollahian of Iran discussed prospects for resuming the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on the Iranian nuclear program, the Russian foreign ministry said on Friday.

According to the ministry, the two top diplomats agreed to maintain close contact on all issues of mutual interest. "The ministers exchanged views on current international and regional problems, including prospects for the resumption of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on settling the situation around Iran’s nuclear program. They expressed mutual satisfaction with the current level of foreign policy coordination between Moscow and Tehran," it said.

"While discussing the bilateral agenda, the focus was on the expansion of mutually beneficial trade and economic cooperation. The ministers agreed to continue close contacts on all issues of mutual interest," the ministry added.

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran nuclear deal, was signed by 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. Under the deal, Iran undertook to curb its nuclear activities and place them under the total control of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in exchange for the abandonment of the previously imposed sanctions by the United Nations Security Council, the European Union and the United States over its nuclear program.

The future of the deal was called into question after the United States’ unilateral withdrawal in May 2018. The United States’ current president, Joe Biden, had repeatedly signaled that Washington was ready to return to the nuclear deal but talks on the restoration of the agreement effectively ended in the spring of 2022 after relations between the US and Iran became strained.