The foreign ministers of Iran and Russia have exchanged views about the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the circumstances surrounding the nuclear agreement of 2015, among other matters.
Mohammad Javad Zarif and Sergei Lavrov had a phone call on Tuesday.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry said that on the Karabakh conflict and Moscow’s efforts for a ceasefire, also highlighted was the need for humanitarian aid to residents affected by the war.
Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to cease hostilities on November 9. Their leaders signed the ceasefire agreement together with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The truce took effect overnight.
Under the deal, the two warring sides would exchange prisoners of war and the war dead. They also agreed to reopen all economic and transport links in the area.
Azerbaijan got to keep all of its territorial gains, and ethnic Armenian forces were scheduled to hand over control of a number of other territories by December 1. Russian peacekeepers were also deployed along the contact line to monitor the truce.
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The top Iranian and Russian diplomats also discussed Moscow and Tehran’s commitment to ensuring the prompt return of all participants to fully observing obligations laid out in the nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and United Nations Resolution 2231, which endorses the accord.
The JCPOA was signed between Iran and six world states — namely the United States, Germany, France, Britain, Russia and China — and was ratified in the form of Resolution 2231. However, US President Donald Trump unilaterally pulled out of the deal in May 2018 and reinstated the anti-Iran sanctions that had been lifted.
As the remaining European parties failed to fulfill their end of the bargain and compensate for Washington’s absence, Iran moved in May 2019 to scale back its JCPOA commitments under Articles 26 and 36 of the accord covering Tehran’s legal rights.
US President-elect Joe Biden has pledged to rejoin the accord, which was inked when he was vice president, if Iran returns to compliance, as he has put it.
The situation in Syria, the Persian Gulf, Yemen and Afghanistan were among other key issues discussed by Zarif and Lavrov.
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