Russia Sees Real Chances of Reviving JCPOA

Russia’s permanent representative to international organizations in Vienna said chances to restore the Iran nuclear deal seem to be real, after Washington voiced doubt about the future of the agreement, which was ditched by the US, and as the remaining signatories seek to revive it.
“Chances to restore #JCPOA seem to be real, although not fully guaranteed, of course,” Mikhail Ulyanov wrote in a tweet, referring to the nuclear pact by its official name, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
He made the remarks in response to comments made by Robert Malley, the US envoy for Iran, who called the nuclear deal’s fate “one big question”.
In a recent interview with NatSec Daily, Malley said the delay in the Vienna talks, which have proceeded fruitlessly since April, is due to the mistrust sowed during the Donald Trump administration’s “maximum pressure” campaign and the political transition in Iran.
Iran and the five remaining parties to the JCPOA launched the Vienna talks months after Joe Biden, who had promised to bring the US back into the deal, took office as US president.
Tehran has refused to speak directly with Washington throughout the course of the talks, citing the latter’s withdrawal from the deal under Biden’s predecessor, Trump, as the reason that the US cannot attend the talks as it is no longer a party to the deal.

Contingencies 

Malley also said his team is preparing some contingencies if Tehran and Washington fail to agree on resuming compliance with the terms of the nuclear deal.
“It’s too early to be pessimistic, dear Rob,” Ulyanov told the top US diplomat in his tweet, adding that the Vienna Talks will resume soon.
Ulyanov, who leads the Russian team to the Vienna talks, called on the participants to address the remaining obstacles with due creativity.
Meanwhile, a member of the Iranian parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission said President Ebrahim Raeisi has agreed to resume the Vienna talks, “but the model of the talks will change in the new administration.”
“The talks [on the JCPOA revival] continued during the [Hassan] Rouhani administration with no results, but we will certainly not see that during the new administration,” Zohreh Elahian said in an interview with Mehr news agency.
Raeisi will make sure that the Vienna talks would not become “attritional”, she added.