Next few weeks ‘decisive’ for reviving JCPOA: IAEA chief says

In an interview with ‘Washington Post’, IAEA Chief said that next few weeks is ‘decisive’ for revival of Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Grossi said that all JCPOA members including UK, Germany, Russian and China along with European Union, which plays a coordinating role, and the United States, which withdraw from JCPOA unilaterally, have told him if IAEA’s supervisory system is not fully revived in Iran, it will be very difficult to reach such an agreement.

Iran and the remaining signatories to the JCPOA have held six rounds of talks so far with no results. The Western powers made excessive demands during the talks and the talks were postponed at the end of the previous Iranian administration under Rouhani until the formation of the new government in Iran under President Ebrahim Raeisi.

The new Iranian administration has vowed that it will return to the Vienna talks if they are result-oriented and can yield tangible results for Iran in terms of the removal of the sanctions and abidance of the parties by JCPOA provisions.

Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has said that the talks must have tangible results for Iran.

Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said on October 5 that Iran will return to Vienna as soon as the internal review process is concluded with no preconditions.

Amid the indifference of the JCPOA parties to continued US violations of the JCPOA, Iran halted voluntary implementation of the Additional Protocol, which allows unannounced inspections of its nuclear sites by the IAEA inspectors as per a piece of legislation approved in the Iranian parliament last December.

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