The foreign ministers of Iran and the United Kingdom discussed bilateral cooperation within the framework of the 2015 nuclear deal in a phone conversation on Monday.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his British counterpart Dominic Raab also discussed other issues of mutual interest, including bilateral relations and certain humanitarian issues, the Foreign Ministry reported.
The nuclear deal, formally called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, was signed between Iran and the world powers under which Iran curbed its nuclear activities in return for the lifting of international sanctions.
The United States pulled out in 2018 and restored tough sanctions on Tehran, aiming to destroy the agreement and force Iranian leaders to enter renegotiation for a new deal.
It also threatened other countries with punitive measures in case of doing business with Iran, effectively targeting the European parties to the agreement.
Iran and the remaining parties, however, remained committed and kept the deal alive, even though Iran scaled back its commitments in response to the pressure and vowed to restore the curbs when it can again enjoy the JCPOA benefits.
With the US President-elect Joe Biden signaling intention to rejoin the deal, the world is seeing an opportunity ahead to resume trade with Iran.
Both Tehran and the new US administration have set conditions for the US return to the multilateral deal.
Biden has called for Iran’s return to its full compliance while Iran says the next American president will first have to compensate Iran for the damage inflicted by the US sanctions.
