TEHRAN - Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia’s permanent representative to the Vienna-based international organizations, has said that the majority of states believe that the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the JCPOA, was a “masterpiece of diplomacy”.

In a tweet on Monday, he also said, “In the IAEA Board of Governors US is practically in total isolation on this topic.”

In May 2019, exactly one year after the U.S. unilaterally quit the deal and imposed sanctions on Iran, Tehran began to gradually reduce its commitments under the JCPOA to both retaliate for Washington’s departure and Europeans’ failure to honor their commitments.

On January 5, Iran took a fifth and last step in reducing its commitments and said it would no longer observe any operational limitations on its nuclear industry, whether concerning the capacity and level of uranium enrichment, the volume of stockpiled uranium or research and development. However, Iran has insisted if the Europeans honor their obligations it will immediately reverse its decisions.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has said that Europe must ensure Iran’s benefits from the nuclear deal if it wants the deal to survive.

President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday that Iran will return to full implementation of the JCPOA if other signatories do the same.

After a meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors in March, Ulyanov tweeted, “The #IAEA Board of Governors started today consideration of the report on verification in #Iran in the light of UNSC 2231. No surprises so far. Almost all Governors disagree with US policy on #JCPOA and call upon Iran to resume full implementation of the nuclear deal.”

NA/PA