US Agrees To Participate In Iran Nuclear Talks With Europe, Russia, China - State Dept. - UrduPoint

 US diplomats will meet on Tuesday with their European, Russian, and Chinese counterparts to discuss ways to return to compliance with the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, or Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), State Department Spokesperson Ned price said on Friday.

"We have agreed to participate in talks with our European, Russian and Chinese partners to verify the issues involved in a mutual return to compliance with the JCPOA," Price said in a statement. "We do not anticipate presently that there will be direct talks between the United States and Iran through this process, though the United States remains open to them."

The talks are scheduled to take place in Austria on April 6, and the United States does not expect to see any immediate breakthroughs, Price said.

Participants will discuss the "nuclear steps" that both Iran and the US need to take to return to compliance with the JCPOA, including sanctions relief steps, Price said.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said earlier on Friday that the United States would not take part in a meeting of the JCPOA in Vienna.

In 2015, Iran signed the JCPOA with the P5+1 group of countries (the United States, China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom - plus Germany) and the European Union.

The deal required Iran to scale back its nuclear program and severely downgrade its uranium reserves in exchange for sanctions relief, including lifting an arms embargo five years after the deal's adoption. In 2018, the US withdrew from the JCPOA and began imposing sanctions on Iran in violation of the agreement...SPUTNIK