TEHRAN – BRICS members – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – issued a statement on Tuesday expressing support for revival of the 2015 nuclear deal within the framework of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

The statement was released by BRICS foreign ministers who held a virtual conference hosted by India.

The foreign ministers also reiterated the full implementation of the JCPOA and the UN Security Council Resolution 2231 that endorsed the deal.

The remaining members to the JCPOA – Iran, Russia, China and E3 (Britain, Germany and France) – along with the U.S. are negotiating in Vienna, Austria, to possibly revitalize the JCPOA.

The current U.S. administration under Joe Biden has expressed willingness to rejoin the multilateral nuclear deal which former president Donald Trump quit in May 2018 and introduced harshest sanctions against Iran in violation of international law.

“The Ministers reiterated the need to resolve the Iran nuclear issue through peaceful and diplomatic means in accordance with international law, including the negotiations within the framework of the JCPOA, and the importance of the full implementation of the JCPOA and the UNSCR 2231,” the BRICS statement said.

BRICS also praised extension of a monitoring deal between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) intended to give negotiators in Vienna more time to settle the remaining differences.

“They welcomed the extension of the ‘technical understandings’ between Iran and the IAEA that allowed for the continuation of necessary verification and monitoring activities,” the statement added.

The Iranian parliament approved a legislation last year that obliges the government to take certain nuclear measures such as limiting the monitoring of the Iranian nuclear activities by the IAEA if the Western parties failed to honor their obligations under the JCPOA. 

Recently, secretariat of Iran's Supreme National Security Council said, “Due to the ongoing technical negotiations on the settlement of safeguards issues between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency, which are taking place in parallel with the Vienna talks, the storage of surveillance cameras data will continue for one month from May 24 so that the necessary opportunity is provided for the progress and conclusion of the negotiations.”

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araqchi who leads the Iranian negotiating team in Vienna has said the talks are “very complicated” and reached to the main issues of dispute.

Iranian government spokesman Ali Rabiei said on Tuesday that the sitting government is determined to fulfill its mission and hand over the country to the future administration without illegal sanctions.

PA/PA