TEHRAN — Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said on Monday that the session of the JCPOA Joint Commission in Vienna on Wednesday will have nothing to do with the nuclear deal’s dispute mechanism.

Speaking to reporters, Mousavi offered some details about the meeting. 

“The meeting that is going to be held on Wednesday, February 26, will be a regular and periodic session of the JCPOA Joint Commission that will be convened at the level of deputy (foreign) ministers and political directors,” he said, the Foreign Ministry website reported. 

The official website of the European Union first announced the meeting.

“A meeting of the Joint Commission of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) will take place in Vienna on 26 February. The Joint Commission will be chaired on behalf of the EU High Representative Josep Borrell Fontelles by EEAS Secretary General Helga Maria Schmid and will be attended by representatives of China, France, Germany, Russia, United Kingdom and Iran,” it said on Monday.

The previous meeting of the commission was held in December 2019.

“All participants emphasized the key importance of full and effective implementation by all sides as well as their determination to pursue all efforts to preserve the agreement,” read the statement published on the European Union official website after the meeting of the commission.

U.S. President Donald Trump quit the JCPOA in May 2018 and introduced the harshest ever sanctions on Iran.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on February 16 that he will remain committed to keep the JCPOA alive.

“As coordinator I remain committed to listen to all sides and keep the #NuclearDeal alive,” he said in a tweet.

In May 2019 Iran started to reduce its commitments to the JCPOA at bi-monthly intervals in response to the abrogation of the pact by the U.S. coupled with the European Union’s inaction to shield Iran’s economy from sanctions.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on February 14 that Iran’s decisions to reduce JCPOA commitments are reversible if Europe takes “meaningful” steps in preserving the JCPOA.

Tehran’s moves to ramp-up its nuclear program in the past few months are reversible “providing that Europe takes steps that are meaningful,” Zarif told reporters on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, according to AP. 

MH/PA