Iran to continue Vienna talks after Raisi takes office

Iran will continue to attend the Vienna talks to revive the 2015 nuclear agreement after President-elect Ebrahim Raisi and his cabinet take office in August, the Foreign Ministry said on Monday.

The spokesman for the Ministry, Saeed Khatibzadeh, said during an online press conference that Iran has announced its intention to continue the talks with its partners in the Joint Commission of the agreement, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), reports Xinhua news agency.

Iran's policy will not change under the new administration, he said, adding that the country will return to its commitments as soon as the US returns to its obligations and Tehran verifies it.

Under the deal reached in 2015, Tehran agreed to roll back parts of its nuclear program in exchange for decreased economic sanctions.

However, Iran gradually stopped implementing parts of its commitments in May 2019, a year after the administration of former US President Donald Trump unilaterally abandoned the agreement and re-imposed sanctions on Tehran.

Between April 6 and June 20, the JCPOA Joint Commission, attended by a US delegation indirectly, held talks in Vienna to discuss a possible return of Washington to the agreement and the way to ensure a full and effective implementation of the deal.

After six rounds of talks, the parties recently said serious differences remained between Iran and the US over the revitalization of the deal.