TEHRAN - Moscow sees the fundamental determination of parties to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action for the Iranian nuclear program to devise the means to breathe new life into this agreement, and hopes another round of the Vienna talks on restoring the deal will begin in the near future, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.

"We have taken note of the fact that all parties concerned are focused on faster coordination of a procedure for breathing a new life into the JCPOA. We hope that another round may take place in the near future," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, the TASS news agency reported.

Zakharova believes that all previous achievements will serve "as a point of departure and a reliable basis for coming close to agreements", which Moscow hopes "will materialize in the foreseeable future."

"We presume that the shortest way to relaunching the JCPOA to full capacity - and we hope that it will happen this way - lies through strict compliance with its provisions by all sides based on the originally verified balance of interests without any exemptions or additions," Zakharova stated.

She refrained from speculating as to how long and frequent the future rounds of negotiations might be.

"Making such forecasts is not a very rewarding task. There is a great amount of work to be handled. It must be focused on bringing approaches closer," Zakharova added.

Vienna talks

Negotiations have been underway in Vienna since April by Iran and the remaining parties to the JCPOA (Russia, Britain, Germany, China and France) on restoring the nuclear deal to its original form. The sides have been discussing the issue of terminating U.S. sanctions against Iran, Tehran's compliance with its commitments in the nuclear deal and the United States' return to the JCPOA.

Representatives from the countries that are parties to the agreement have also been holding separate consultations with U.S. emissaries without Iran’s participation. Originally the delegates had hoped to be through with this work by the end of May, and then at the beginning of June. On September 21, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed

Khatibzadeh said the talks on restoring the nuclear deal to the full extent would begin in Vienna within a few weeks.

The comments by Zakharova comes as Moscow and Tehran have agreed that negotiations on the Iran nuclear deal in the Vienna format should resume as soon as possible, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday.

Russia opposes attempts of some countries to link the preservation of the Iran nuclear deal with Tehran's concessions on other issues, Lavrov said during a joint press conference with visiting Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian following their talks in Moscow.

Lavrov said that the international community is still waiting for the United States to return to the nuclear deal and lift "illegal restrictions" on Iran and its economic partners.

According to Xinhua, Amir Abdollahian said that he had received signals from the U.S. administration that the White House intends to return to the nuclear deal and take into account the rights and interests of the Iranian people.

While discussing Afghanistan, both officials called on the new authorities to fight terrorism and illegal arms and drug trafficking so that the country would stop being a source of regional and global instability.

Lavrov and Amir Abdollahian agreed to arrange a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in the foreseeable future.

They also agreed to launch the production of Russia's Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine in Iran as soon as possible.