JCPOA Joint Commission Expert Consultations Underway In Vienna - Source

VIENNA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th April, 2021) The Joint Commission of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) has resumed its expert consultations on the Iran nuclear deal in the Austrian capital of Vienna, a diplomatic source told Sputnik on Friday.

Last week, the joint commission began in-person meetings in Vienna. Following the first meeting, two expert-level working groups were formed to deal with nuclear-related issues and lifting of US sanctions against Iran. The second meeting was held on Thursday amid Tehran's decision to bring uranium enrichment to 60 percent. Russia's permanent representative to international organizations in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, said that his overall impression of the consultations was rather positive.

Earlier in the day, Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said that Iran had managed to reach 60 percent uranium enrichment, three days after Tehran notified the International Atomic Energy Agency of its plan.

The decision to increase uranium enrichment came in response to a recent incident at Natanz nuclear facility that damaged the plant's electricity distribution network in what the country's vice president and atomic energy chief, Ali Akbar Salehi, described as "nuclear terrorism."

In 2015, Iran signed the JCPOA with Russia, the United States, China, Germany, the United Kingdom and France. The agreement required Iran to scale back its nuclear program and downgrade its uranium reserves in exchange for sanctions relief. In 2018, the United States withdrew from the JCPOA and began imposing sanctions on Iran, the latter being in violation of the nuclear agreement. Iran retaliated by gradually abandoning its own commitments under the deal a year later.