Iran Deputy FM to Brief Lawmakers on JCPOA Survival Talks
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi will go to the parliament next week to brief lawmakers on the latest developments in the process of talks with the European parties to the JCPOA on maintaining the 2015 nuclear deal in the wake of US withdrawal from it, an MP said.
Rapporteur of the Iranian Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Hossein Naqavi Hosseini told Tasnim that Araqchi will go to the parliament next week for an extraordinary session of the commission to brief its members on the latest status of talks with the European parties to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, namely France, Britain and Germany.
After a number of regular meetings with the deputy foreign minister, the parliamentary commission has come to the conclusion that the Iranian diplomats are striving to include the conditions set by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei in any plan to save the deal, he explained.
Mr. Araqchi has mentioned that the European parties are eager to keep cooperating with Iran under the JCPOA, Naqavi Hosseini added.
On May 8, the US president pulled his country out of the JCPOA, which was achieved in Vienna in 2015 after years of negotiations among Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany).
Following the US exit, Iran and the remaining parties have launched talks to save the accord.
Meanwhile, Ayatollah Khamenei has underlined that any decision to keep the JCPOA running without the US should be conditional on “practical guarantees” from the Europeans.
In comments on May 27, Araqchi raised the possibility of an extension of the negotiations with the Europeans, saying, “We have set a time limit of a couple of weeks for them. Whether or not the deadline will be extended depends on the (Iranian) Establishment’s decisions.”
