JCPOA Joint Commission to meet in Vienna to set tasks to working groups — Russian diplomat

Mikhail Ulyanov

VIENNA, April 2. /TASS/: The Joint Commission of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) will gather for an offline meeting in Vienna on April 6 to set tasks to the two working groups and begin to discuss matters of complete resumption of the implementation of the Iran nuclear deal, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the Vienna-based international organization Mikhail Ulyanov told TASS on Friday.

"Today, the Joint Commission had an online session. An offline meeting of political directors will be held in the offline format on April 6," he said, adding that the offline meeting is supposed to clearly set tasks first before two expert groups begin work in Vienna. One of these groups will look at issues of lifting the anti-Iranian sanctions, and the other one will deal with Teheran’s nuclear commitments and their implementation.

"The Americans will not be present at the meeting because they are not participants in the JCPOA. They are yet to resume the implementation of their commitments and after that the issue of their return to the nuclear deal and resumption of their status of a JCPOA participant will be looked at. The Iranians are not ready to speak with the Americans directly," Ulyanov explained.

He did not rule possible contacts between a US representative, who would be present in Vienna, with other participants in the JCPOA. Neither are excluded indirect contacts between the Americans and the Iranians via other participants in the nuclear deal, he added.

According to the Russian diplomat, the United States, Iran and other participants in the deal want to get back to the initial JCPOA, with no US sanctions and Teheran implementing their commitments in full. "It is planned to discuss how to reach this strategic goal, to find a way to the complete revival of the nuclear deal. It is not a simple task," he stressed.

Participants in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on the Iranian nuclear program held an online meeting on April 2. "Participants recognised the prospect of a full return of the US to the JCPOA, and underlined their readiness to positively address this in a joint effort. Participants also emphasised their commitment to preserve the JCPOA and discussed modalities to ensure the return to its full and effective implementation," the EU External Action Service said after the meeting.