Iran is ready to return to negotiations on a nuclear deal

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri-Karni said that on November 29 the Iranian side will resume negotiations on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on the Iranian nuclear program in Vienna. Representatives of China, France, Germany, Russia, Great Britain and Iran will take part in the talks.

The participants of the meeting are eagerly awaiting the start of negotiations, expecting that they will be able to lead to the lifting of US sanctions and to Iran's return to full implementation of the nuclear provisions of the 2015 deal.

Then Iran and the «six» countries (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany) concluded a nuclear agreement (JCPOA), according to which Tehran must admit IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) inspectors to its nuclear facilities in exchange for a step-by-step lifting of sanctions. In 2018, former US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the JCPOA and resumed anti-Iranian sanctions, prompting Tehran to phase out certain terms of the deal.

This year, in the period from April to June, Iran and a number of world powers held several rounds of negotiations on the resumption of the JCPOA. However, they were then suspended until the change of the American president. After the inauguration of the new head of the White House Joe Biden, Iran agreed to return to negotiations, noting that they will be held only with the aim of lifting repressive and illegal US sanctions.