Russia proceeds from the fact that the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on Iranian nuclear program is still relevant and there are no other alternatives, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing on Friday, commenting on statements by US National Security Assistant Jake Sullivan about alternatives to the JCPOA.
"The agreement is still relevant and that all member countries of the UN Security Council, which includes the United States, are obliged to comply with it," she said. - As for possible alternatives for restoring the JCPOA, Russia proceeds from the position that there is no alternative to it.
The diplomat noted that this position of the Russian Federation has been unchanged since the beginning of the drafting of the plan. "Accordingly, when the US began to unilaterally break it and withdraw from it, telling everyone that they were exceptional, and now they are excluding themselves from it, we again proceeded from the non-alternative nature of this document," Zakharova continued. - "When Washington changed its position again in favor of this deal, we stood by that, so we are participating constructively, really, as a partner in these negotiations with the goal of restoring this deal as soon as possible".
The JCPOA was signed with Iran in 2015 to address the crisis surrounding its nuclear program by the permanent UN Security Council Five and Germany. Previous US President Donald Trump decided in 2018 to withdraw from the JCPOA. The current US administration head, Joe Biden, has repeatedly signaled a willingness to bring the US back into the nuclear deal with Tehran.
The seventh round of talks on restoring the Iranian nuclear deal concluded on December 17 in Vienna. It was noted that all sides were striving to restore the JCPOA in its original form.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Creative Commons
Based on materials from TASS