The Joint Commission of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) held the first session of the fifth round of talks on Tuesday with presence of Iran and 4+1 countries, Araghchi said in an interview after the meeting.
The talks would continue through two working groups on Iran’s nuclear measure and the US sanctions and the third working group on the arrangements for implementing the agreements, he continued.
All the parties involved are serious about the process and many of them hoped that this round would be the last one, as there was hope to finalize the talks in this round, the deputy foreign minister stated, although he advised some caution.
Araghchi added that the remaining issues are key ones, though their number has decreased, as progress has been made in the drafting phase in previous rounds of talks.
He refused to set a date for finalization of talks and whether this would be the final round was not certain, because Iran was not going to sacrifice its demands and interests for time.
The senior diplomat underlined that Iran’s negotiating team neither was in hurry to wrap up the negotiation process nor would let the talks become erosive.
Iran and other participants of the JCPOA, i.e. China, France, Germany, Russia and the UK, have been negotiating in recent weeks to revive the nuclear deal for US to rejoin the deal.
The United States which attends the talks indirectly ceased its participation to the JCPOA in 2018, resuming all sanctions against Iran.
The US move was objected by all other participants and the world community and made Iran to reciprocate resumption of sanctions by reducing its compliance to the deal, as the deal was originally made to ease sanctions in return of some limitations on Iran’s nuclear program.
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