Remaining nuclear deal parties meet in Vienna
TEHRAN - The remaining parties to the 2015 nuclear deal, officially called the JCPOA, met in Vienna on Friday to discuss issues surrounding the multilateral accord.
The meeting was chaired by Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Abbas Araqchi and Helga Schmid, secretary general of the European External Action Service (EEAS).
This was the first meeting by representatives from Iran, UK, France, Germany, Russia and China since July.
The landmark agreement is on the verge of collapse as the Trump administration withdrew the U.S. from the deal on May 8, 2018 and slapped the harshest sanctions in history against Iran.
Iran remained in full compliance for a full year after the U.S. exit to give the Europeans the time to protect Tehran’s economy from the sanctions. However, on May 8, 2019 Iran announced that its “strategic patience” is over and partially started to scale down its commitment to the JCPOA at bi-monthly intervals.
"The European parties to the deal should know that the clock is ticking for them. They try to keep Iran in the deal but then take no action against America's bullying and pressure," a senior Iranian official told Reuters news agency.
Iran has said if the European side shields its economy from the sanctions it will reverse its decision.
PA/PA
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