TEHRAN – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has endorsed the European Union’s draft text to restore the 2015 nuclear deal, officially called the JCPOA, the Russian ambassador to the IAEA said on Tuesday.

“Sergei Lavrov confirmed once again that the draft decision on restoration of the JCPOA is acceptable for Russia,” Mikhail Ulyanov tweeted.

In a separate tweet on the same day, Ulyanov, Russia’s chief nuclear negotiator at the Vienna talks, said it is “high time” to revive the nuclear deal.

“It would be great if the US and Iran successfully overcome their last differences as soon as possible. It is high time to conclude the agreement on restoration of the JCPOA without any further delay,” the Russian chief negotiator remarked.

Iran submitted its response to the EU proposal on August 15. Iran gave its response one week after it was proposed by the EU. However, Iran and other sides are awaiting a response from the U.S.

The EU has said it views Iran’s response to the proposed blueprint as constructive. The EU has also said it is consulting with the U.S. on the “way ahead”. 

The EU spokeswoman for Foreign Affairs and Security, Nabila Massrali, confirmed on August 16 that the EU had received the Iranian response.

“We are studying it and are consulting with the other JCPOA participants and the U.S. on the way ahead,” she said. 

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, who acts as the coordinator of the JCPOA talks, has said that most countries involved in the talks agree with the proposal submitted by the EU. 

"Most of them agree, but I still don't have the answer from the United States, which I expect during this week," Borrell said in an interview with Spain's national broadcaster TVE on Tuesday. One day before, Borrell had described Iran’s response as “reasonable”.

American officials have said they were still studying the Iranian response

“There was a proposal from me as coordinator of the negotiations saying 'this is the equilibrium we reached, I don't think we can improve it on one side or the other'... and there was a response from Iran that I considered reasonable,” Borrell said, according to Reuters.

He added, “It was transmitted to the United States which has not yet responded formally... I hope the response will put an end to the negotiations.”

Borrell also said Iran has asked for a few adjustments to the EU proposal, which has not been made public yet.

The proposal, Borrell said, follows 16 months of indirect talks between Iran and the United States, with the EU shuttling between the parties.

Also, in another tweet on Tuesday, Ulyanov said, “… the US believes that some outstanding issues at the Vienna talks still exist and it needs more time to elaborate its position on them. It has become a pattern: as soon as we almost approach the finish line, new problems arise. But this isn’t the reason to become pessimistic.”

The nuclear deal was unilaterally ditched by former U.S. President Donald Trump. His unilateral and illegal move was in line with his “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran.