Paris, Nov 9 (FN Bureau) French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian in a telephone conversation with Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, urged Tehran to immediately resume the negotiations on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the French Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday. “Jean-Yves Le Drian, the minister for Europe and foreign affairs, held a telephone conversation on Tuesday, November 9, with his Iranian counterpart, Hossaine Amir Abdollahian. Following the E3-US leaders-level statement from October 29, he stressed the importance and urgency of the resumption of the negotiations interrupted by Iran on June 20, … with the aim of a rapid return to the JCPOA,” the ministry said in a statement.
According to the ministry, Le Drian stressed the importance of Iran’s full cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency in the light of the next session of the organization’s board of governors. In addition, the minister expressed France’s unwavering commitment to Iraq’s security and stability after Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi survived a drone attack on Sunday. In 2015, Iran signed the nuclear deal with the P5+1 group, which includes the United States, China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, Germany and the European Union. It required Tehran to scale back its nuclear program and drastically reduce its uranium reserves in exchange for sanctions relief, including the lifting of an arms embargo five years after the deal was made.
In 2018, the US abandoned its conciliatory stance, withdrawing from the JCPOA and implementing hardline policies against Iran, prompting the latter to largely abandon its own obligations under the accord. Since April, Vienna has been hosting talks aimed at preventing the Iran nuclear deal from failing altogether. The sixth round of the talks finished on June 20 and the negotiations have since hit a deadlock. In October, both Tehran and Washington affirmed their readiness to revive the Vienna talks as soon as possible.