Russia hosts Iran foreign minister, urges US to lift illegal sanctions against Tehran

Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has travelled to Moscow, where he will discuss with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, ways to revive the US-abandoned 2015 nuclear deal.

In May 2018, then-US President Donald Trump withdrew Washington from the nuclear accord, and imposed cruel sanctions on Iran, leaving the future of the deal in limbo.

The deal, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), was signed in 2015 between Tehran and the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China.

“The window of dialogue is still open and one of the topics of the conversation with Mr. Lavrov is the JCPOA and the return of parties to their commitments,” Amir-Abdollahian told reporters in Moscow.

However, Washington abandoned the accord in May 2018 and imposed cruel sanctions on Iran, leaving the future of the deal in limbo.

Negotiations between the parties to the JCPOA kicked off in Vienna in April 2021, with the intention of bringing the US back into the agreement and putting an end to its “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran.

The discussions, however, have been at a standstill since August 2022 due to Washington’s insistence on not lifting all of the anti-Iran sanctions and offering the necessary guarantees that it will not withdraw from or violate the accord again.

“Russia played an important role in the new round of the Vienna talks between Iran and the 4+1 group of countries, which lasted for months,” said Amir-Abdollahian.

“Our Russian colleagues still keep up efforts toward the return of all sides to their commitments. Naturally, the JCPOA will be one of the subjects to be discussed,” he said.

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