TEHRAN — Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says the United States has targeted “multilateralism” by trying to destroy the historic Iran nuclear agreement.

“The world is watching how the international community is resisting the U.S. unilateral efforts,” Mehr on Tuesday quoted Araghchi as saying.

Araghchi arrived in Vienna on Monday to attend a meeting of the Joint Commission of the nuclear deal, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

The meeting is to be co-chaired by Secretary-General of the European External Action Service Helga Schmid and Araghchi later on Tuesday.

Representatives of France, Germany, Britain, China and Russia are expected to attend the meeting, which would be held at the level of deputies and political directors of the foreign ministries of Iran and the P4+1 group of countries.

“This is a normal and routine meeting of the JCPOA Joint Commission, which is held every three months according to the procedure in the nuclear agreement,” Araghchi he said of the meeting.

However, he said, the meeting is of special importance due to its concurrence with Washington’s efforts to trigger the reimposition of abolished UN Security Council resolutions and destroy the JCPOA.

He said the participants of the meeting, namely Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany, have taken very strong positions in New York against the U.S. and rejected the U.S. efforts to trigger the so-called snapback mechanism.

The top Iranian diplomat also pointed to a recent trip to Iran by IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi, saying it led to a success in resolving a very serious issue between Iran and the IAEA.

On Monday, Araghchi met Austria’s Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg, who described the JCPOA as the “most effective” diplomatic accord.

During the meeting, Schallenberg called for multilateral efforts to save the deal, which has been abandoned and attacked by the U.S. after President Donald Trump assumed office in January 2017.

The top Austrian diplomat called on the remaining parties to the accord to live up to their obligations under the deal.

He stressed that Vienna will continue its partnership to the JCPOA to rebuild trust in the region.

Araghchi is also expected to hold separate talks with heads of a number of delegations attending the Joint Commission meeting.

The meeting is being held upon a letter sent in July by Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to Schmid regarding the non-adherence of European countries to the nuclear deal.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has announced that all UN sanctions against Iran will be reinstated on September 20 after the U.S. “activated the snapback mechanism”. 

However, the claim was strongly denounced by other signatories of the nuclear deal including Iran, the EU, Russia and China.

MH/PA