In reaction to the remarks of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that the West is raising other issues, such as Iran's missile program and regional issues, Ulyanov wrote in a tweet on Saturday, "The agreed aim of the #ViennaTalks is to restore the #JCPOA in its original form. Nothing more and nothing less."
Earlier, Russia's foreign minister told a joint news conference with his Bahraini counterpart stressed that Iran's position on the nuclear issue was fair, but that the West is trying to impose new obligations on Tehran.
Russia Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova also stressed that there had been no talks in the Vienna talks on amending or expanding the nuclear deal with Iran.
Since April, representatives from Iran and the P4+1 group of countries have been holding talks in Vienna aimed at revitalizing the JCPOA and bringing the US back to compliance. The US has sent a delegation to Vienna but it is not attending the JCPOA Joint Commission talks directly as Washington is no longer a party to the deal. It has, however, held separate talks with the other parties to the JCPOA.
Under former president Donald Trump, the US left the JCPOA in 2018 and returned the sanctions that had been lifted against Tehran as part of the agreement. US President Joe Biden has said Washington is willing to return to the pact if Tehran first suspends its countermeasures taken in response to US violations and reimposition of sanctions.
Iran says the onus is on the US to revive the deal as it was Washington, not Tehran, that left the internationally recognized accord in defiance of global criticism.
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