Russia says Tehran and Moscow see eye to eye on the need to ensure an uninterrupted process of implementing last year’s nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers.
The Russian Foreign Ministry made the comments in a Thursday statement issued following talks between Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov and his Iranian counterparts, Abbas Araqchi and Majid Takht-e-Ravanchi, in Tehran a day earlier.
The statement further said Iranian and Russian officials held detailed talks to review the latest developments in the implementation of the nuclear deal, called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
The two sides emphasized the need for a continuous process of implementing the landmark accord, urging all parties to fully honor their commitments under the agreement, the Russian ministry added.
The JCPOA was inked between Tehran and the P5+1 group of world powers, namely Russia, China, France, Britain, the US and Germany on July 14, 2015.
The accord, which took effect in January, ended decades of economic sanctions against Iran in exchange for restrictions on its nuclear program.
However, months into the JCPOA’s implementation, Iran complains that the promised economic benefits have yet to materialize, and that it still does not have access to global financial markets.
Touching on his one-day trip to Tehran, Ryabkov described his talks in the Iranian capital as effective, saying, “The previous consultations of this kind were held last year. Since then, a lot of different issues have massed up, more large-scale and to certain extent more technical, on which we have had a conversation.”
The Iranian and Russian diplomats further exchanged views on the removal of anti-Tehran sanctions and technical cooperation, expressing their countries’ determination to successfully implement the JCPOA.
The construction of the Bushehr-2 nuclear power plant, cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and obstacles to the progress of the JCPOA were among other issues discussed in the talks.