Iranian, French Diplomats Discuss Efforts to Save JCPOA

Political Director of France’s Foreign Ministry Nicolas de Riviere, who has traveled to Iran with a diplomatic delegation to hold a new round of Iran-France political negotiations, met with Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi on Wednesday.

In the gathering, Riviere and Araqchi discussed the latest developments surrounding the Iran nuclear deal, commitments made by France and other European members of the JCPOA to normalize economic ties with Iran and counter the negative impacts of the US sanctions against Tehran, ways to broaden interaction between Tehran and Paris, as well as a series of security, regional and international issues.

Riviere also briefed Araqchi on the final stages of establishment of EU’s financial mechanism for trade with Iran, the unexpected obstacles in the way of SPV, and the solutions that France, Britain and Germany are looking for to address those problems and launch the mechanism as soon as possible.

The two diplomats also talked about the initiatives to minimize the impact of US sanctions on international economic and trade ties with Iran.

The EU has devised the SPV to continue trade with Iran and neutralize the US sanctions against Tehran.

On May 8, US President Donald Trump pulled his country out of the JCPOA, which was achieved in Vienna in 2015 after years of negotiations among Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany).

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