TEHRAN – Iranian and French experts held intensive talks in Paris on Monday at expert level and discussed preserving the 2015 nuclear deal, officially known as the JCPOA.

The meeting which lasted over 10 hours was chaired by Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Abbas Araghchi.

According to Iran’s Foreign Ministry, both sides reviewed details of President Emmanuel Macron’s initiative to save JCPOA, following phone calls with his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani, Press TV reported.

Macron’s plan — which he separately discussed in detail with U.S. President Donald Trump and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif — reportedly included a “softening” of economic sanctions against Tehran in exchange for some liabilities.

The initiative, according to an earlier report by Bloomberg, will allow Iran to sell certain amounts of oil in exchange for fully implementing the JCPOA.

On May 8, exactly one year after the United States abandoned the JCPOA and reinstated sanctions on Iran, Iran announced it will start reducing its nuclear commitments. However, Iran has announced if the European Union as a signatory to the deal protects it from the sanctions effect it will reverse its decision.

According to the New York Times, the senior Iranian delegation was working out the details of a financial bailout package that French President Emmanuel Macron intends to use to compensate Iran for oil sales lost to American sanctions. In return for the money, the Times said, Iran would agree to return to compliance with a 2015 nuclear accord, The New York Times reported on Monday.

Iranian press reports and a senior American official say that the core of the package is a $15 billion letter of credit that would allow Iran to receive hard currency, at a time when most of the cash it makes from selling oil is frozen in banks around the world.

NA/PA