Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that the task of preserving the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – also known as the Iran nuclear deal – had been “solved satisfactorily” during a statement following a JCPOA Joint Commission meeting in Vienna on Friday.
The Russian diplomat did not give more details, although he specified that he would not “want to give a prognosis regarding the medium or long term.”
Ryabkov added that discussions of Iran’s alleged capacity to manufacture nuclear weaponary “within months” are “speculative” and “evil.”
The deputy foreign minister also touched on the INSTEX (Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges) mechanism introduced by Europe and said that “countries that are not part of the EU – so-called third countries – should have access to INSTEX too and Russia should be one of them.”
The INSTEX financial mechanism was designed to facilitate trade between Tehran and European businesses despite US sanctions.
Delegates from Iran, China, Russia, France, Germany and the UK met on Friday to discuss the future of the Iran nuclear deal, as Tehran is reportedly threatening to surpass the maximum allowed amount of enriched uranium.
Tensions have been escalating since Iran announced in May that it was partially withdrawing from JCPOA after the US unilaterally left the agreement in 2018, and imposed new sanctions on Iran.