Moscow, Tehran stress urgent need to restore Iran nuclear deal

MOSCOW - Russia Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met with his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif in Moscow on Tuesday, and they stressed the need to restore the Iran nuclear deal and addressed key foreign policy issues among other things.

"Today, one of the key issues is the task of rescuing the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on the settlement of the Iranian nuclear program," Lavrov said during the talks with Zarif, according to a statement published by the Russian Foreign Ministry.

"We, together with Iran, have a sincere interest in the return of all signatories of the JCPOA to the full implementation of their obligations," he added.

Lavrov expressed the hope that efforts currently aimed at the preservation of the nuclear deal will yield results and the United States will return to the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 2231 on the JCPOA.

The JCPOA was reached in 2015 between Iran and the P5+1 (the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council - the United States, Britain, Russia, France, China, plus Germany) and the European Union. Tehran agreed to roll back parts of its nuclear weapons program in exchange for decreased economic sanctions.

In 2018, the United States withdrew from the deal and imposed sanctions on Iran, following which Tehran has stopped implementing parts of its obligations under the JCPOA.