TEHRAN – Iran’s Foreign Ministry has sent its quarterly report to the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, elaborating on the latest developments surrounding the 2015 nuclear deal.

The 264-page report offered detailed explanations about the Iranian Foreign Ministry’s measures regarding the implementation of the 2015 nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

The report begins with a letter from Mohammad Javad Zarif to Chairman of the Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Vahid Jalalzadeh explaining the legal foundation of the report, which is the last one to be issued by Zarif in his capacity as foreign minister.

“Now, on the eve of the sixth anniversary of the JCPOA, the twenty-second and last quarterly report is presented by me as the minister of foreign affairs and the head of JCPOA's negotiating team to the honorable representatives of the brave nation of Iran in the Islamic Consultative Assembly,” Zarif wrote to Jalalzadeh.

He added, “This report presents the most important achievements and challenges of the implementation of the JCPOA during the last six years and the latest results of the six rounds of the Vienna talks, which stand to reflect the failure of the U.S. government's maximum pressure against the resistance of the Iranian people.”

Zarif noted, “In the last working weeks of the twelfth government, these negotiations have approached the framework of a possible agreement to lift the illegal sanctions of the United States of America, and I hope what has become achievable so far be completed at the beginning of the thirteenth government with the help of God, guidance of the Leader, management of the president-elect and the support of the Islamic Consultative Assembly.”

The JCPOA was agreed on in July 2015 between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council along with Germany, known as the P5+1. The agreement was approved by the Supreme National Security Council, the Islamic Consultative Assembly and finally by the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei.

Iran strictly complied with the nuclear deal. However, this did not prevent the Trump administration from quitting it. In May 2018, former U.S. President Donald Trump announced the unilateral withdrawal of the U.S. from the JCPOA, setting off a series of confrontations with Iran.

After quitting the JCPOA the Trump administration started imposing sweeping economic sanctions on Iran. Trump piled up sanctions on Iran in a bid to force Iran into making more concessions to the U.S. within the framework of a new nuclear deal. Trump, however, failed to get his deal, bequeathing his successor a litany of unresolved issues with Iran. The Biden administration has said it wants to open a new chapter with Iran and change tack, though it is yet to make any move to break with the Trump legacy on Iran.
Since April, diplomats from the remaining parties to the JCPOA and the U.S. have held six rounds of talks in a bid to revive the deal. They made significant progress but failed to get Iran and the U.S. back to full compliance with the nuclear deal.

The sixth round was concluded nearly three weeks ago. Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araqchi, who leads the Iranian negotiating team in Vienna, issued a statement about the conclusion of the sixth round.

While stating that the sides are closer to an agreement than ever before, the deputy foreign minister expressed hope that an agreement could be reached in the next round of talks, although it could not be guaranteed.

Araqchi also called on the U.S. and Europe to make difficult decisions to revive the JCPOA.

“So far, six rounds of talks have been held with the P4+1, and we are almost close to the final stages. There is a series of issues that have been sufficiently negotiated and it is time for the countries to decide,” Iran’s top nuclear negotiator said.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran has already made tough decisions. When the United States withdrew from the JCPOA and Iran decided to stay in the JCPOA. It was Iran's big and difficult decision that led to the preservation of the JCPOA so far. Now it is the turn of the opposing parties, and according to the negotiations we had, they must decide and reach a conclusion on the revival of the JCPOA in order to reach an agreement,” Araqchi told Iranian media after briefing lawmakers sitting on the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee on the Vienna talks.