JCPOA Joint Commission to convene in Vienna tomorrow

An urgent meeting of the Joint Commission on the implementation of the Iran nuclear deal is scheduled to be held in the Austrian capital city of Vienna tomorrow.

Russia's Permanent Representative to International Organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov on Saturday confirmed that the meeting will be held on Sunday, IRNA reported.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry’s spokesman Seyyed Abbas Mousavi had earlier announced the date of the meeting which will be held at the level of political deputies and directors.

He said on Monday the previous meeting of the commission was convened on June 28, following which Iran announced its decision to suspend some of its commitments under the deal, officially known as of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), according to Press TV.

Under the 2015 nuclear deal, Iran was committed to export its stockpiles of low enriched uranium exceeding 300 kilograms and heavy water exceeding 130 tons in order to stay within limits agreed to under the JCPOA.

However, almost a year after President Donald Trump abandoned the JCPOA, the US imposed sanctions on Iran's low enriched uranium and heavy water exports.

Shortly after, Iran responded to the US actions by suspending its commitments to agreed heavy water and enriched uranium limits, urging the remaining signatories – Britain, France, Russian, China plus Germany – to take practical steps to protect the deal, including Iran's right to export the nuclear-related material.

Iran, which had been fully complying with all of its commitments despite the US pullout and the European shortfalls, began scaling down its commitments in early July, when a 60-day deadline set by Tehran for the other signatories to fulfill their side of the JCPOA was not met.

Mousavi noted that the European signatories to the nuclear deal had called for the convention of the Joint Commission to discuss the new status quo ahead of their foreign ministers’ meeting.

“Acting on the plea, we agreed to hold an emergency meeting of the JCPOA Joint Commission in Vienna on July 28,” the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said.

The US unilaterally left the JCPOA last year in defiance of international criticism and although the deal has been ratified as a United Nations Security Council resolution. Washington also returned its anti-Iran sanctions in a move condemned by the Islamic Republic as “economic terrorism.”

source: Iran Daily