Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Seyed Abbas Araghchi, who also heads Iranian Foreign Ministry’s committee following up on the implementation of JCPOA, made the remarks on Friday night following a joint commission between Iran and the 5+1 group of countries in Austrian capital Vienna.
He went on to add that the working group would propose its suggestions for resolving the matter and if needed, the matter would be brought up in the joint commission for further discussion.
This was the third joint commission between Iran and the 5+1, as well as the first one after the implementation of the nuclear agreement in January, which according to Araghchi, lasted for over four hours.
“Of course we held bilateral meetings before and after the commission,” said Araghchi. “We had a lot of issues to discuss in the commission, the most important of which was the removal of sanctions and the obstacles on the way to achieve it.”
Araghchi noted that good progress was made on certain issues, while problems still existed for the lift of sanctions due to administrative and technical problems, or in some cases, because the other side had not thrown its weight behind this matter.
“The European and American sides once again reaffirmed their commitments to the lifting of sanctions under the JCPOA,” said Araghchi. “They mentioned the measures they have taken so far in this regard, and offered explanations for the existing problems which in their view, are mostly related to the technical aspects of sanctions removal.”
He further added that the sides exchanged constructive ideas on how to remove the obstacles and facilitate the implementation of the nuclear deal.
“On the process of modernization and reconstruction of Arak reactor, the Iranian, Chinese and American delegations exchanged viewpoints and drew up a complete picture of what would be done in the future on this matter,” he said, adding the Russian delegation also engaged in talks with the Iranian side on Fordow nuclear facility and measures so far taken in regard to stable isotopes.
Araghchi went on to add, “overall, the meeting was constructive, and helpful discussions were held especially on matters related to sanctions.”
The Iranian delegation comprised of Deputy Foreign Minister for European and American Affairs Majid Takht-e-Ravanchi, Hamid Ba'eidinejad, the director general for political and international security affairs at Iran's Foreign Ministry, two teams of technical experts from the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran and a legal team from the Central Bank of Iran and Foreign Ministry.
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