Russia:

INSTEX, Arak Heavy Water to Be Discussed at Vienna Meeting

TEHRAN (defapress) – The INSTEX payment mechanism for trade with Iran and the situation around the heavy water reactor in Iran’s central city of Arak will be among the main topics at the upcoming meeting of the Joint Commission of the JCPOA in Vienna on Sunday, the Russian deputy foreign minister said.

News ID: 78196

Date: 28 July 2019 - 11:03

Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China will meet Iran in Vienna on July 28 to discuss how to save the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers, the EU’s foreign policy service said in a statement on Tuesday.

If the INSTEX mechanism is open to third countries and to transactions with Iranian oil, then the chances of saving the JCPOA will increase, Sergei Ryabkov said ahead of the meeting, the Tass news agency reported.

“As for increasing the production of heavy water by Iran, it is not so rapid as to turn it into the most pressing, acute and urgent problem”, he added.

“Of course, INSTEX will be discussed, but there are a lot of other issues. All projects that are being implemented and experiencing difficulties, including those related to the US threats and the direct application of sanctions — Fordow, Arak and the rest — of course, will be the main topics”, Ryabkov said.

The Joint Commission of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) will be chaired by the EU foreign policy service’s Secretary General Helga Schmid.

In May 2018, US President Donald Trump pulled his country out of the JCPOA.

Iran and the remaining parties launched talks to save the JCPOA after the US withdrawal, but the three EU parties to the deal (France, Britain, and Germany) have failed to ensure Iran’s economic interests.

The EU’s inaction forced Tehran to stop honoring certain commitments to the nuclear deal, including a rise in the stockpile of enriched uranium.

Iran maintains that the new measures are not designed to harm the JCPOA but to save the accord by creating a balance in the commitments.

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