TEHRAN — The new round of the JCPOA Joint Commission meeting began on Tuesday and ended in a positive manner, with all sides agreeing to expedite the process of reviving the 2015 nuclear deal.

At the meeting, the negotiators decided to continue expert group meetings in the two areas of lifting sanctions and the nuclear measures required to be taken by Iran in an “intensive and rapid” way.

It was also decided to set up a third expert group called the "executive arrangements expert group" to discuss practical arrangements needed to implement the process of lifting of sanctions and then the return of the United States to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Mikhail Ulyanov, head of the Russian delegate and Russia’s ambassador to Vienna tweeted, “The discussions proved that participants are guided by the unity of purpose which is full restoration of the nuclear deal in its original form. It was decided to expedite the process.”

The Iranian delegate did not stop its active diplomacy and held two separate meetings before the Joint Commission meeting on Tuesday.

First, Seyed Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s top negotiator, and his team met with their Russian and Chinese counterparts, a meeting described by the top Russian negotiator as “fruitful”. 

ISNA reported that the three delegates called for the immediate lifting of the U.S. sanctions as a necessary condition for Washington to return to the JCPOA.

Another meeting was held between the Iranian delegate and the E3 (France, Germany and the United Kingdom). 

It is expected that the Joint Commission would reconvene in the coming days.